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THE  RISING  TIDE  OF  COLOR 

AGAINST 
WHITE  WORLD-SUPREMACY 


THE 
RISING  TIDE  OF  COLOR 

AGAINST  WHITE  WORLD-SUPREMACY 


BY 

LOTHROP  STODDARD,  A.M.,  PH.D.  (Harv.) 

AUTHOR  OF  "THE  STAKES  OF  THE  WAR," 

"PRESENT-DAT  EUROPE:  ITS  NATIONAL  STATES  OF  MIND," 

"  THE  FRENCH  REVOLUTION  IN  SAN  DOMHTOO,"  ETC. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION    BY 

MADISON  GRANT 

CHAIRMAN   NEW   YORK   ZOOLOGICAL  SOCIETY;   TRUSTEE  AMERICAN 

MUSEUM  OF  NATURAL  HISTORY;    COUNCILLOR  AMERICAN  GEOGRAPHICAL  SOCIETY! 
AUTHOR  OF  "THE  PASSING  OF  THE  GREAT  BAC«" 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1921 


CoFTKIOHT,   1920,  BT 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

All  rights  reserved 

Published  April,  1920 

Reprinted  June,  July,  September,  October,  1920; 
February,  1921 


PREFACE 

MORE  than  a  decade  ago  I  became  convinced  that  the 
key-note  of  twentieth-century  world-politics  would  be 
the  relations  between  the  primary  races  of  mankind. 
Momentous  modifications  of  existing  race-relations 
were  evidently  impending,  and  nothing  could  be  more 
vital  to  the  course  of  human  evolution  than  the  char- 
acter of  these  modifications,  since  upon  the  quality 
of  human  life  all  else  depends. 

Accordingly,  my  attention  was  thenceforth  largely 
directed  to  racial  matters.  In  the  preface  to  an  his- 
torical monograph  ("The  French  Revolution  in  San 
Domingo")  written  shortly  before  the  Great  War, 
I  stated:  "The  world-wide  struggle  between  the  pri- 
mary races  of  mankind — the  '  conflict  of  color/  as  it  has 
been  happily  termed— bids  fair  to  be  the  fundamental 
problem  of  the  twentieth  century,  and  great  communi- 
ties like  the  United  States  of  America,  the  South 
African  Confederation,  and  Australasia  regard  the 
'color  question7  as  perhaps  the  gravest  problem  of  the 
future." 

Those  lines  were  penned  in  June,  1914.  Before 
their  publication  the  Great  War  had  burst  upon  the 
world,  At  that  time  several  reviewers  commented 
upon  the  above  dictum  and  wondered  whether,,  had  I 
written  two  months  later,  I  should  have  held  a  different 
opinion. 


vi  PREFACE 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  I  should  have  expressed  myself 
even  more  strongly  to  the  same  effect.  To  me  the 
Great  War  was  from  the  first  the  White  Civil  War, 
which,  whatever  its  outcome,  must  gravely  compli- 
cate the  course  of  racial  relations. 

Before  the  war  I  had  hoped  that  the  readjustments 
rendered  inevitable  by  the  renascence  of  the  brown 
and  yellow  peoples  of  Asia  would  be  a  gradual,  and  in 
the  main  a  pacific,  process,  kept  within  evolutionary 
bounds  by  the  white  world's  inherent  strength  and 
fundamental  solidarity.  The  frightful  weakening  of 
the  white  World  during  the  war,  however,  opened  up 
revolutionary,  even  cataclysmic,  possibilities. 

In  saying  this  I  do  not  refer  solely  to  military 
"perils."  The  subjugation  of  white  lands  by  colored 
armies  may,  of  course,  occur,  especially  if  the  white 
world  continues  to  rend  itself  with  internecine  wars. 
However,  such  colored  triumphs  of  arms  are  less  to 
be  dreaded  than  more  enduring  conquests  like  migra- 
tions which  would  swamp  whole  populations  and  turn 
countries  now  white  into  colored  man's  lands  irre- 
trievably lost  to  the  white  world.  Of  course,  these 
ominous  possibilities  existed  even  before  1914,  but  the 
war  has  rendered  them  much  more  probable. 

The  most  disquieting  feature  of  the  present  situation, 
however,  is  not  the  war  but  the  peace.  The  white 
world's  inability  to  frame  a  constructive  settlement, 
the  perpetuation  of  intestine  hatreds,  and  the  menace 
of  fresh  white  civil  wars  complicated  by  the  spectre  of 
social  revolution,  evoke  the  dread  thought  that  the 


PREFACE  vii 

late  war  may  be  merely  the  first  stage  in  a  cycle  of 
ruin. 

In  fact,  so  absorbed  is  the  white  world  with  its  do- 
mestic dissensions  that  it  pays  scant  heed  to  racial 
problems  whose  importance  for  the  future  of  man- 
kind far  transcends  the  questions  which  engross  its 
attention  to-day. 

This  relative  indifference  to  the  larger  racial  issues 
has  determined  the  writing  of  the  present  book.  So 
fundamental  are  these  issues  that  a  candid  discussion 
of  them  would  seem  to  be  timely  and  helpful. 

In  the  following  pages  I  have  tried  to  analyze  in  their 
various  aspects  the  present  relations  between  the  white 
and  non-white  worlds.  My  task  has  been  greatly 
aided  by  the  Introduction  from  the  pen  of  Madison 
Grant,  who  has  admirably  summarized  the  biological 
and  historical  background.  A  life-long  student  of 
biology,  Mr.  Grant  approaches  the  subject  along  that 
line.  My  own  avenue  of  approach  being  world-politics, 
the  resulting  convergence  of  different  view-points  has 
been  a  most  useful  one. 

For  the  stimulating  counsel  of  Mr.  Grant  in  the 
preparation  of  this  book  my  thanks  are  especially  due. 
I  desire  also  to  acknowledge  my  indebtedness  for  help- 
ful suggestions  to  Messrs.  Alleyne  Ireland,  Glenn 
Frank,  and  other  friends. 

LOTHROP  STODDARD. 

NEW  YORK  CITY, 
February  28,  1920. 


CONTENTS 

»*•* 

INTRODUCTION  BY  MADISON  GRANT ii 

PART  I 

THE   RISING  TIDE  OF  COLOR 
CHAPTER 

tr     I.  THE  WORLD  OF  COLOR     3 

¥    II.  YELLOW  MAN'S  LAND 17 

j/tfll.  BROWN  MAN'S  LAND 54 

-"  IV.  BLACK  MAN'S  LAND 87 

V.  RED  MAN'S  LAND 104 

PART  II 

THE   EBBING  TIDE  OF  WHITE 

VI.  THE  WHITE  FLOOD 145 

V  VII.  THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  EBB 154 

VIII.  THE  MODERN  PELOPONNESIAN  WAR     173 

IX.  THE  SHATTERING  OF  WHITE  SOLIDARITY  ....  198 

PART  III 

THE  DELUGE   ON   THE   DIKES 

X.    THE  OUTER  DIKES    • 225 

XL    THE  INNER  DIKES 236 

XII.    THE  CRISIS  OF  THE  AGES 299 

INDEX  .  311 


MAPS 
I 

PAGE 

DISTRIBUTION  OP  THE  PRIMARY  RACES 14 

II 

CATEGORIES  OF  WHITE  WORLD-SUPREMACY 150 

III 
DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  WHITE  RACES   .  228 


INTRODUCTION 


MR.  LOTHROP  STODDARD'S  "The  Rising  Tide  of 
Color,"  following  so  closely  the  Great  War,  may  ap- 
pear to  some  unduly  alarming,  while  others,  as  his 
thread  of  argument  unrolls,  may  recoil  at  the  logic 
of  his  deductions. 

In  our  present  era  of  convulsive  changes,  a  prophet 
must  be  bold,  indeed,  to  predict  anything  more  definite 
than  a  mere  trend  in  events,  but  the  study  of  the  past 
is  the  one  safe  guide  in  forecasting  the  future. 

Mr.  Stoddard  takes  up  the  white  man's  world  and 
its  potential  enemies  as  they  are  to-day.  A  considera- 
tion of  their  early  relations  and  of  the  history  of  the 
Nordic  race,  since  its  first  appearance  three  or  four 
thousand  years  ago,  tends  strongly  to  sustain  and  jus- 
tify his  conclusions.  For  such  a  consideration  we  must 
first  turn  to  the  map,  or,  better,  to  the  globe. 

Viewed  in  the  light  of  geography  and  zoology, 
Europe  west  of  Russia  is  but  a  peninsula  of  Asia  with 
the  southern  shores  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  included. 
True  Africa,  or  rather  Ethiopia,  lies  south  of  the 
Sahara  Desert  and  has  virtually  no  connection  with 
the  North  except  along  the  valley  of  the  Nile. 

This  Eurasiatic  continent  has  been,  perhaps,  since 


xii  INTRODUCTION 

the  origin  of  life  itself,  the  most  active  centre  of  evolu-1 
tion  and  radiation  of  the  higher  forms. 

Confining  ourselves  to  the  mammalian  orders,  we 
find  that  a  majority  of  them  have  originated  and  de- 
veloped there  and  have  spread  thence  to  the  outlying 
land  areas  of  the  globe.  All  the  evidence  points  to  the 
origin  of  the  Primates  in  Eurasia  and  we  have  every 
reason  to  believe  that  this  continent  was  also  the 
scene  of  the  early  evolution  of  man  from  his  anthropoid 
ancestors. 

The  impulse  that  inaugurated  the  development  of 
mankind  seems  to  have  had  its  basic  cause  in  the 
stress  of  changing  climatic  conditions  in  central  Asia 
at  the  close  of  the  Pliocene,  and  the  human  inhabitants 
of  Eurasia  have  ever  since  exhibited  in  a  superlative 
degree  the  energy  developed  at  that  time.  This 
energy,  however,  has  not  been  equally  shared  by  the 
various  species  of  man,  either  extinct  or  living,  and  the 
survivors  of  the  earlier  races  are,  for  the  most  part, 
to  be  found  on  the  other  continents  and  islands  or  in 
the  extreme  outlying  regions  of  Eurasia  itself. 

In  other  words  those  groups  of  mankind  which  at 
an  early  period  found  refuge  in  the  Americas,  in  Aus- 
tralia, in  Ethiopia,  or  in  the  islands  of  the  sea,  repre- 
sent to  a  large  extent  stages  in  man's  physical  and  cul- 
tural development,  from  which  the  more  energized 
inhabitants  of  Eurasia  have  long  since  emerged.  In 
some  cases,  as  in  Mexico  and  Peru,  the  outlying  races 
developed  in  their  isolation  a  limited  culture  of  their 
own,  but,  for  the  most  part,  they  have  exhibited,  and 


INTRODUCTION  xiii 

continue  to  this  day  to  exhibit,  a  lack  of  capacity  for 
sustained  evolution  from  within  as  well  as  a  lack  of 
capacity  to  adjust  themselves  of  their  own  initiative 
to  the  rapid  changes  which  modern  times  impose  upon 
them  from  without. 

In  Eurasia  itself  this  same  inequality  of  potential 
capacity  is  found,  but  in  a  lesser  degree,  and  conse- 
quently, in  the  progress  of  humanity,  there  has  been 
constant  friction  between  those  who  push  forward  and 
those  who  are  unable  to  keep  pace  with  changing  con-; 
ditions. 

Owing  to  these  causes  the  history  of  mankind  has 
been  that  of  a  series  of  impulses  from  the  Eurasiatic 
continent  upon  the  outlying  regions  of  the  globe,  but 
there  has  been  an  almost  complete  lack  of  reaction, 
either  racial  or  cultural,  from  them  upon  the  masses 
of  mankind  in  Eurasia  itself.  There  have  been  end- 
less conflicts  between  the  different  sections  of  Eurasia, 
but  neither  Amerinds,  nor  Austroloids,  nor  Negroes, 
have  ever  made  a  concerted  attack  upon  the  great 
continent. 

Without  attempting  a  scientific  classification  of  the 
inhabitants  of  Eurasia,  it  is  sufficient  to  describe  the 
three  main  races.  The  first  are  the  yellow-skinned, 
straight  black-haired,  black-eyed,  round-skulled  Mon- 
gols and  Mongoloids  massed  in  central  and  eastern 
Asia  north  of  the  Himalayan  system. 

To  the  west  of  them,  and  merged  with  them,  lie  the 
Alpines,  also  characterized  by  dark,  but  not  straight, 


xiv  INTRODUCTION 

hair,  dark  eyes,  relatively  short  stature,  and  round 
skulls.  These  Alpines  are  thrust  like  a  wedge  into 
Europe  between  the  Nordics  and  the  Mediterraneans, 
with  a  tip  that  reaches  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  Those  of 
western  Europe  are  derived  from  one  or  more  very 
ancient  waves  of  round-skulled  invaders  from  the 
East,  who  probably  came  by  way  of  Asia  Minor  and 
the  Balkans,  but  they  have  been  so  long  in  their  present 
homes  that  they  retain  little  except  their  brachy- 
cephalic  skull-shape  to  connect  them  with  the  Asiatic 
Mongols. 

South  of -the  Himalayas  and  westward  in  a  narrow 
belt  to  the  Atlantic,  and  on  both  sides  of  the  Inland 
Sea,  lies  the  Mediterranean  race,  more  or  less  swarthy- 
skinned,  black-haired,  dark-eyed,  and  long-skulled. 

On  the  northwest,  grouped  around  the  Baltic  and 
North  Seas,  lies  the  great  Nordic  race.  It  is  charac- 
terized by  a  fair  white  skin,  wavy  hair  with  a  range  of 
color  from  dark  brown  to  flaxen,  light  eyes,  tall  stature, 
and  long  skulls. 

These  races  show  other  physical  characters  which 
are  definite  but  difficult  to  describe,  such  as  texture  of 
skin  and  cast  of  features,  especially  of  the  nose.  The 
contrast  of  mental  and  spiritual  endowments  is  equally 
definite,  but  even  more  elusive  of  definition. 

It  is  with  the  action  and  interaction  of  these  three 
groups,  together  with  internal  civil  wars,  that  recorded 
history  deals. 

While,  so  far  as  we  know,  these  three  races  have  oc- 
cupied their  present  relative  positions  from  the  begin- 


INTRODUCTION  xv 

ning,  there  have  been  profound  changes  in  their  dis- 
tribution. 

The  two  essential  phenomena,  however,  are,  first, 
the  retreat  of  the  Nordic  race  westward  from  the  Grass- 
lands of  western  Asia  and  eastern  Europe  to  the  bor- 
ders of  the  Atlantic,  until  it  occupies  a  relatively  small 
area  on  the  periphery  of  Eurasia. 

The  second  phenomenon  is  of  equal  importance, 
namely,  the  more  or  less  thorough  Nordicizing  of  the 
westernmost  extensions  of  the  other  two  races,  namely, 
the  Mediterranean  on  the  north  coast  of  the  Inland 
Sea,  who  have  been  completely  Aryanized  in  speech, 
and  have  been  again  and  again  saturated  with  Nordic 
blood,  and  the  even  more  profound  Nordicization  in 
speech  and  in  blood  of  the  short,  dark,  round-skulled 
inhabitants  of  central  Europe,  from  Brittany  through 
central  France,  southern  Germany,  and  northern  Italy 
into  Austrian  and  Balkan  lands.  So  thorough  has 
been  this  process  that  the  western  Alpines  have  at  the 
present  time  no  separate  race  consciousness  and  are  to 
be  considered  as  wholly  European. 

As  to  the  Alpines  of  eastern  and  central  Europe, 
the  Slavs,  the  case  is  somewhat  different.  East  of  a 
line  drawn  from  the  Adriatic  to  the  Baltic  the  Nordiciz- 
ing process  has  been  far  Jess  perfect,  although  nearly 
complete  as  to  speech,  since  all  the  Slavic  languages 
are  Aryan.  Throughout  these  Slavic  lands,  great  ac- 
cessions of  pure  Mongoloid  blood  have  been  introduced 
within  relatively  recent  centuries. 

East  of  this  belt  of  imperfectly  Nordicized  Alpines 


xvi  INTRODUCTION 

we  reach  the  Asiatic  Alpines,  as  yet  entirely  untouched 
by  western  blood  or  culture.  These  groups  merge  into 
the  Mongoloids  of  eastern  Asia. 

So  we  find,  thrust  westward  from  the  Heartland, 
a  race  touching  the  Atlantic  at  Brittany,  thoroughly 
Asiatic  and  Mongoloid  in  the  east,  very  imperfectly 
Nordicized  in  the  centre,  and  thoroughly  Nordicized 
culturally  in  the  far  west  of  Europe,  where  it  has  be- 
come, and  must  be  accepted  as,  an  integral  part  of 
the  White  World. 

As  to  the  great  Nordic  race,  within  relatively  recent 
historic  times  it  occupied  the  Grasslands  north  of  the 
Black  and  Caspian  Seas  eastward  to  the  Himalayas. 
Traces  of  Nordic  peoples  in  central  Asia  are  constantly 
found,  and  when  archaeological  research  there  becomes 
as  intensive  as  in  Europe  we  shall  be  astonished  to 
find  how  long,  complete,  and  extended  was  their  occu- 
pation of  western  Asia. 

During  the  second  millennium  before  our  era  suc- 
cessive waves  of  Nordics  began  to  cross  the  Afghan 
passes  into  India  until  finally  they  imposed  their  primi- 
tive Aryan  language  upon  Hindustan  and  the  coun- 
tries lying  to  the  east. 

All  those  regions  lying  northwest  of  the  mountains 
appear  to  have  been  largely  a  white  man's  country  at 
the  time  of  Alexander  the  Great.  In  Turkestan  the 
newly  discovered  Tokharian  language,  an  Aryan  tongue 
of  the  western  division,  seems  to  have  persisted  down 
to  the  ninth  century.  The  decline  of  the  Nordics 
in  these  lands,  however,  began  probably  far  earlier 


INTRODUCTION  xvii 

than  Alexander's  time,  and  must  have  been  nearly 
completed  at  the  beginning  of  our  era.  Such  blond 
traits  as  are  still  found  in  western  Asia  are  relatively 
unimportant,  and  for  the  last  two  thousand  years 
these  countries  must  be  regarded  as  lost  to  the  Nordic 
race. 

The  impulse  that  drove  the  early  Nordics  like  a  fan 
over  the  Himalayan  passes  into  India,  the  later  Nor- 
dics southward  into  Mesopotamian  lands,  as  Kassites, 
Mitanni,  and  Persians,  into  Greece  and  Anatolia  as 
Achaeans,  Dorians,  and  Phrygians,  westward  as  the 
Aryan-speaking  invaders  of  Italy  and  as  the  Celtic 
vanguards  of  the  Nordic  race  across  the  Rhine  into 
Gaul,  Spain,  and  Britain,  may  well  have  been  caused 
by  Mongoloid  pressure  from  the  heart  of  central  Asia. 
Of  course,  we  have  no  actual  knowledge  of  this,  but 
the  analogy  to  the  history  of  later  migrations  is  strong, 
and  the  conviction  is  growing  among  historians  that 
the  impulse  that  drove  the  Hellenic  Nordics  upon  the 
early  ^Egean  culture  world  was  the  same  as  that 
which  later  drove  Germanic  Nordics  into  the  Roman 
Empire. 

North  of  the  Caspian  and  Black  Seas  the  boundaries 
of  Europe  receded  steadily  before  Asia  for  nearly  a 
thousand  years  after  our  era  opened,  but  we  have 
scant  record  of  the  struggles  which  resulted  in  the  evic- 
tion of  the  Nordics  from  their  homes  in  Russia,  Po- 
land, the  Austrian  and  east  German  lands. 

By  the  time  of  Charlemagne  the  White  Man's  world 
was  reduced  to  Scandinavia,  Germany  west  of  the  Elbe, 


xviii  INTRODUCTION 

the  British  Isles,  the  Low  Countries,  and  northern 
France  and  Italy,  with  outlying  groups  in  southern 
France  and  Spain.  This  was  the  lowest  ebb  for  the 
Nordics  and  it  was  the  crowning  glory  of  Charlemagne's 
career  that  he  not  only  turned  back  the  flood,  but  be- 
gan the  organization  of  a  series  of  more  or  less  Nordi- 
cized  marches  or  barrier  states  from  the  Baltic  to  the 
Adriatic,  which  have  served  as  ramparts  against  Asiatic 
pressure  from  his  day  to  ours.  West  of  this  line  the 
feudal  states  of  mediaeval  Europe  developed  into  west- 
ern Christendom,  the  nucleus  of  the  civilized  world  of 
to-day. 

South  of  the  Caspian  and  Black  Seas,  after  the  first 
swarming  of  the  Nordics  over  the  mountains  during  the 
second  millennium  before  Christ,  the  East  pressed  stead- 
ily against  Europe  until  the  strain  culminated  in  the 
Persian  Wars.  The  defeat  of  Asia  in  these  wars  re- 
sulted later  in  Alexander's  conquest  of  western  Asia 
to  the  borders  of  India. 

Alexander's  empire  temporarily  established  Hellenic 
institutions  throughout  western  Asia  and  some  of  the 
provinces  remained  superficially  Greek  until  they  were 
incorporated  in  the  Roman  Empire  and  .ultimately  be- 
came part  of  early  Christendom.  On  the  whole,  how- 
ever, from  the  time  of  Alexander  the  elimination  of 
European  blood,  classic  culture,  and,  finally,  of  Chris- 
tianity, went  on  relentlessly. 

By  later  Roman  times  the  Aryan  language  of  the 
Persians,  Parthians,  and  people  of  India  together 
with  some  shreds  of  Greek  learning  were  about  all  the 


INTRODUCTION  xix* 

traces  of  Europe  that  were  to  be  found  east  of  the  os- 
cillating boundary  along  the  Euphrates. 

The  Roman  and  Byzantine  Empires  struggled  for 
centuries  to  check  the  advancing  tide  of  Asiatics, 
but  Arab  expansions  under  the  impulse  of  the  Mo- 
hammedan religion  finally  tore  away  all  the  eastern 
and  southern  coasts  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  while 
from  an  Arabized  Spain  they  threatened  western 
Europe.  With  the  White  Man's  world  thus  rapidly 
receding  in  the  south,  a  series  of  pure  Mongol  invasions 
from  central  Asia,  sweeping  north  of  the  Caspian  and 
Black  Seas,  burst  upon  central  Europe.  Attila  and 
his  Huns  were  the  first  to  break  through  into  Nordic 
lands  as  far  as  the  plains  of  northern  France.  None  of 
the  later  hordes  were  able  to  force  their  way  so  far 
into  Nordic  territories,  but  spent  their  strength  upon 
the  Alpines  of  the  Balkans  and  eastern  Europe. 

Eastern  Germany,  the  Austrian  states,  Poland,  and 
Russia  had  been  Nordic  lands  before  the  Slavs  emerged 
after  the  fall  of  Rome.  Whether  the  occupation  of 
Teutonic  lands  by  the  Wends  and  Slavs  in  eastern 
Europe  was  an  infiltration  or  a  conquest  is  not  known, 
but  the  conviction  is  growing  that,  like  other  move- 
ments which  preceded  and  followed,  it  was  caused 
by  Mongoloid  pressure. 

That  the  western  Slavs  or  Wends  had  been  long 
Nordicized  in  speech  is  indicated  by  the  thoroughly 
Aryan  character  of  the  Slavic  languages.  They 
found  in  the  lands  they  occupied  an  underlying  Teu- 
tonic population.  They  cannot  be  regarded  as  the 


xx  INTRODUCTION 

original  owners  of  Poland,,  Bohemia,  Silesia,  or  other 
Wendish  provinces  of  eastern  Germany  and  Austria. 
The  Teutonic  Marcomanni  and  Quadi  were  in  Bohemia 
long  before  the  Czechs  came  in  through  the  Moravian 
Gate  in  the  sixth  century.  Pomerania  and  the  Prus- 
sias  were  the  home  of  Teutonic  Lombards,  Burgunds, 
Vandals,  and  Suevi,  while  the  Crimea  and  the  north- 
western coast  of  the  Black  Sea  were  long  held  by  the 
Nordic  Goths,  who,  just  before  our  era,  had  migrated 
overland  from  the  Baltic  by  way  of  the  Vistula. 

No  doubt  some  of  this  Nordic  blood  remained  to  en- 
rioble  the  stock  of  the  later  invaders,  but  by  the  time 
of  Char  emagne,  in  the  greater  part  of  Europe  east  of 
the  Elbe,  the  Aryan  language  was  the  only  bond  with 
Europe. 

When  the  Prankish  Empire  turned  the  tide  and 
Christianized  these  Wendish  and  Polish  lands,  civiliza- 
tion was  carried  eastward  until  it  met  the  Byzantine 
influences  which  brought  to  Russia  and  the  lands  east 
of  the  Carpathians  the  culture  and  Orthodox  Christi- 
anity of  the  Eastern  or  Greek  Empire. 

The  nucleus  of  Russia  was  organized  in  the  ninth 
century  by  Scandinavian  Varangians,  the  Franks  of 
the  East,  who  founded  the  first  civilized  state  amid  a 
welter  of  semi-Mongoloid  tribes.  How  much  Nordic 
blood  they  found  in  the  territories  which  afterward 
became  Russia  we  have  no  means  of  knowing,  but  it 
must  have  been  considerable  because  we  do  know  that 
from  the  Middle  Ages  to  the  present  time  there  has 
been  a  progressive  increase  in  brachycephaly  or  broad- 


INTRODUCTION  xxi 

headedness,  to  judge  from  the  rise  in  the  percentage  of 
round  skulls  found  in  the  cemeteries  of  Moscow  and 
elsewhere  in  Russia. 

Such  was  the  condition  of  eastern  Europe  when 
a  new  and  terrible  series  of  Mongoloid  invasions 
swept  over  it,  this  time  directly  from  the  centre  of 
Asia. 

The  effect  of  these  invasions  was  so  profound  and 
lasting  that  it  may  be  well  to  consider  briefly  the 
condition  of  eastern  Europe  after  the  elimination  of 
the  Nordics  and  its  partial  occupation  by  the  so-called 
Slavs.  Beginning  with  Attila  and  his  Huns,  in  the 
fourth  century,  there  was  a  series  of  purely  Mongoloid 
tribes  entering  from  Asia  in  wave  after  wave. 

Similar  waves  ultimately  passed  south  of  the  Black 
and  Caspian  Seas,  and  were  called  Turks,  but  these 
were  long  held  back  by  the  power  of  the  Byzantine 
Empire,  to  which  history  has  done  scant  justice. 

In  the  north  these  invaders,  called  in  the  later  days 
Tatars,  but  all  essentially  of  central  Asiatic  Mongol 
stock,  occupied  Balkan  lands  after  the  expansion  of 
the  south  Slavs  in  those  countries.  They  are  known 
by  various  names,  but  they  are  all  part  of  the  same 
general  movement,  although  there  was  a  gradual  slow- 
ing down  of  the  impulse.  Prior  to  Jenghiz  Khan  the 
later  hordes  did  not  reach  quite  as  far  west  as  the 
earlier  ones. 

The  first  wave,  Attila's  Huns,  were  followed  dur- 
ing the  succeeding  centuries  by  the  Avars,  the  Bui- 
gars,  the  Hunagar  Magyars,  the  Patzinaks  and  the 


xxii  INTRODUCTION 

Cumans.  All  of  these  tribes  forced  their  way  over 
the  Carpathians  and  the  Danube,  and  much  of  their 
blood,  notably  in  that  of  the  Bulgars  and  Magyars,  is 
still  to  be  found  there.  Most  of  them  adopted  Slavic 
dialects  and  merged  in  the  surrounding  population, 
but  the  Magyars  retain  their  Asiatic  speech  to  this 
day. 

Other  Tatar  and  Mongoloid  tribes  settled  in  south- 
ern and  eastern  Russia.  Chief  among  these  were  the 
Mongol  Chazars,  who  founded  an  extensive  and  power- 
ful empire  in  southern  and  southeastern  Russia  as 
early  as  the  eighth  century.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  they  accepted  Judaism  and  became  the  ancestors 
of  the  majority  of  the  Jews  of  eastern  Europe,  the 
round-skulled  Ashkenazim. 

Into  this  mixed  population  of  Christianized  Slavs 
and  more  or  less  Christianized  and  Slavized  Mongols 
burst  Jenghiz  Khan  with  his  great  hordes  of  pure 
Mongols.  All  southern  Russia,  Poland,  and  Hungary 
collapsed  before  them,  and  in  southern  Russia  the  rule 
of  the  Mongol  persisted  for  centuries,  in  fact  the 
Golden  Horde  of  Tatars  retained  control  of  the  Crimea 
down  to  1783. 

Many  of  these  later  Tatars  had  accepted  Islam,  but 
entire  groups  of  them  have  retained  their  Asiatic  speech 
and  to  this  day  profess  the  Mohammedan  religion. 

The  most  lasting  result  of  these  Mongol  invasions 
was  that  southern  Poland  and  all  the  countries  east 
and  north  of  the  Carpathians,  including  Rumania  and 
the  Ukraine,  were  saturated  anew  with  Tatar  blood, 


INTRODUCTION  xxiii 

and,  in  dealing  with  these  populations  and  with  the 
new  nations  founded  among  them,  this  fact  must  not 
be  forgotten. 

The  conflict  between  the  East  and  the  West— Europe 
and  Asia — has  thus  lasted  for  centuries,  in  fact  it  goes 
back  to  the  Persian  Wars  and  the  long  and  doubtful 
duel  between  Rome  and  Parthia  along  the  eastern 
boundary  of  Syria.  As  we  have  already  said,  the 
Saraeens  had  torn  away  many  of  the  provinces  of  the 
Eastern  Empire,  and  the  Crusades,  for  a  moment,  had 
rolled  back  the  East,  but  the  event  was  not  decided 
until  the  Seljukian  and  Osmanli  Turks  accepted  Islam. 

If  these  Turks  had  remained  heathen  they  might 
have  invaded  and  conquered  Asia  Minor  and  the 
Balkan  States,  just  as  their  cousins,  the  Tartars,  had 
subjected  vast  territories  north  of  the  Black  Sea,  but 
they  could  not  have  held  their  conquests  permanently 
unless  they  had  been  able  to  incorporate  the  beaten 
natives  into  their  own  ranks  through  the  proselytizing 
power  of  Islam. 

Even  in  Roman  times  the  Greek  world  had  been 
steadily  losing,  first  its  Nordic  blood  and  then  later 
the  blood  of  its  Nordicized  European  population,  and 
it  became  in  its  declining  years  increasingly  Asiatic 
until  the  final  fall  of  Constantinople  in  1453. 

Byzantium  once  fallen,  the  Turks  advanced  un- 
checked, conquering  the  Alpine  Slav  kingdoms  of  the 
Balkans  and  menacing  Christendom  itself. 

In  these  age-long  conflicts  between  Asia  and  Eu- 
rope the  Crusades  seem  but  an  episode,  although 


xxiv  INTRODUCTION 

tragically  wasteful  of  Nordic  stock.  The  Nordic 
Prankish  nobility  of  western  Europe  squandered  its 
blood  for  two  hundred  years  on  the  desert  sands  of 
Syria  and  left  no  ethnic  trace  behind,  save,  perhaps, 
some  doubtful  blond  remnants  in  northern  Syria  and 
Edessa. 

If  the  predictions  of  Mr.  Stoddard's  book  seem  far- 
fetched, one  has  but  to  consider  that  four  times  since 
the  fall  of  Rome  Asia  has  conquered  to  the  very  con- 
fines of  Nordic  Europe.  The  Nordicized  Alpines  of 
eastern  Europe  and  the  Nordicized  Mediterraneans  of 
southern  Europe  have  proved  too  feeble  to  hold  back 
the  Asiatic  hordes,  Mongol  or  Saracen.  It  was  not 
until  the  realms  of  pure  Nordics  were  reached  that 
the  invaders  were  turned  back.  This  is  shown  by  the 
fact  that  the  Arabs  had  quickly  mastered  northern 
Africa  and  conquered  Spain,  where  the  Nordic  Goths 
were  too  few  in  number  to  hold  them  back,  while 
southern  France,  which  was  not  then,  and  is  not  now, 
a  Nordic  land,  had  offered  no  serious  resistance.  It 
was  not  until  the  Arabs,  in  732,  at  Tours,  dashed  them- 
selves to  pieces  against  the  solid  ranks  of  heavy-armed 
Nordics,  that  Islam  receded. 

The  same  fate  had  already  been  encountered  by 
Attila  and  his  Huns,  who,  after  dominating  Hungary 
and  southern  Germany  and  destroying  the  Burgundians 
on  the  Rhine,  had  pushed  into  northern  France  as 
far  as  Chalons.  Here,  in  376,  he  was  beaten,  not  by  the 
Romanized  Gauls  but  by  the  Nordic  Visigoths,  whose 
king,  Roderick,  died  on  the  field.  These  two  vie- 


INTRODUCTION  xxv 

tones,  one  against  the  Arab  south  and  the  other  over 
the  Mongoloid  east,  saved  Nordic  Europe,  which  was 
at  that  time  shrunken  to  little  more  than  a  fringe  on 
the  seacoast. 

How  slender  the  thread  and  how  easily  snapped, 
had  the  event  of  either  day  turned  out  otherwise! 
Never  again  did  Asia  push  so  far  west,  but  the  danger 
was  not  finally  removed  until  Charlemagne  and  his 
successors  had  organized  the  Western  Empire. 

Christendom,  however,  had  sore  trials  ahead  when 
the  successors  of  Jenghiz  Khan  destroyed  Moscovy 
and  Poland  and  devastated  eastern  Europe.  The 
victorious  career  of  the  Tatars  was  unchecked,  from 
the  Chinese  Sea  on  the  east  to  the  Indian  Ocean  on 
the  south,  until  in  1241,  at  Wahlstatt  in  Silesia,  they 
encountered  pure  Nordic  fighting  men.  Then  the  tide 
turned.  Though  outnumbering  the  Christians  five 
to  one  and  victorious  in  the  battle  itself,  the  Tatars 
were  unable  to  push  farther  west  and  turned  south 
into  Hungary  and  other  Alpine  lands. 

Some  conception  of  the  almost  unbelievable  horrors 
that  western  Europe  escaped  at  this  time  may  be  gath- 
ered from  the  fate  of  the  countries  which  fell  before  the 
irresistible  rush  of  the  Mongols,  whose  sole  descernible 
motive  seems  to  have  been  blood  lust.  The  destruc- 
tion wrought  in  China,  central  Asia,  and  Persia  is 
almost  beyond  conception.  In  twelve  years,  in  China 
and  the  neighboring  states,  Jenghiz  Khan  and  his  lieu- 
tenants slaughtered  more  than  18,500,000  human  be- 
ings. After  the  sack  of  Merv  in  Khorasan,  the  "Garden 


xxvi  INTRODUCTION 

of  Asia/'  the  corpses  numbered  1,300,000,  and  after 
Herat  was  taken  1,600,000  are  said  to  have  perished. 
Similar  fates  befell  every  city  of  importance  in  central 
Asia,  and  to  this  day  those  once  populous  provinces 
have  never  recovered.  The  cities  of  Russia  and 
Poland  were  burned,  their  inhabitants  tortured  and 
massacred,  with  the  consequence  that  progress  was 
retarded  for  centuries. 

Almost  in  modern  times  these  same  Mongoloid  in- 
vaders, entering  by  way  of  Asia  Minor,  and  calling 
themselves  Turks,  after  destroying  the  Eastern  Empire, 
the  Balkan  States,  and  Hungary,  again  met  the  Nordic 
chivalry  of  western  Europe  under  the  walls  of  Vienna, 
in  1683,  and  again  the  Asiatics  went  down  in  rout. 

On  these  four  separate  occasions  the  Nordic  race  and 
it  alone  saved  modern  civilization.  The  half-Nordi- 
cized  lands  to  the  south  and  to  the  east  collapsed  under 
the  invasions. 

Unnumbered  Nordic  tribes,  nameless  and  unsung, 
have  been  massacred,  or  submerged,  or  driven  from 
their  lands.  The  survivors  had  been  pushed  ever  west- 
ward until  their  backs  were  against  the  Northern 
Ocean.  There  the  Nordics  came  to  bay — the  tide  was 
turned.  Few  stop  to  reflect  that  it  was  more  than  sixty 
3;  ears  after  the  first  American  legislature  sat  at  James- 
town, Virginia,  that  Asia  finally  abandoned  the  con- 
quest of  Europe. 

One  of  the  chief  results  of  forcing  the  Nordic  race 
back  to  the  seacoast  was  the  creation  of  maritime 
power  and  its  development  to  a  degree  never  before 


INTRODUCTION  xxvii 

known  even  in  the  days  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Cartha- 
ginians. With  the  recession  of  the  Turkish  flood, 
modern  Europe  emerges  and  inaugurates  a  counter- 
attack on  Asia  which  has  placed  virtually  the  entire 
world  under  European  domination. 

While  in  the  mediaeval  conflicts  between  Europe 
and  Asia  the  latter  was  the  aggressor,  the  case  was 
otherwise  in  the  early  wars  between  the  Nordic  and 
the  Mediterranean  peoples.  Here  for  three  thousand 
years  the  Nordics  were  the  aggressors,  and,  although 
these  wars  were  terribly  destructive  to  their  numbers, 
they  were  the  medium  through  which  classic  civiliza- 
tion was  introduced  into  Nordic  lands.  As  to  the 
ethnic  consequences,  northern  barbarians  poured  over 
the  passes  of  the  Balkans,  Alpines,  and  Pyrenees  into 
the  sunny  lands  of  the  south  only  to  slowly  vanish  in 
the  languid  environment  which  lacked  the  stimulus 
of  fierce  strife  with  hostile  nature  and  savage  rivals. 

Nevertheless,  long  before  the  opening  of  the  Chris- 
tian era  the  Alpines  of  western  Europe  were  thoroughly 
Nordicized,  and  in  the  centuries  that  followed,  the  old 
Nordic  element  in  Spain,  Italy,  and  France  has  been 
again  and  again  strongly  reinforced,  so  that  these  lands 
are  now  an  integral  part  of  the  White  World. 

In  recent  centuries  Russia  was  again  superficially 
Nordicized  with  a  top  dressing  of  Nordic  nobility, 
chiefly  coming  from  the  Baltic  provinces.  Along  with 
this  process  there  was  everywhere  in  Europe  a  resur- 
gence among  the  submerged  and  forgotten  Alpines  and 


xxviii  INTRODUCTION 

among  the  Mediterranean  elements  of  the  British 
Isles,  while  Bolshevism  in  Russia  means  the  elimination 
of  the  Nordic  aristocracy  and  the  dominance  of  the 
half-Asiatic  Slavic  peasantry. 

All  wars  thus  far  discussed  have  been  race  wars  of 
Europe  against  Asia,  or  of  the  Nordics  against  Medi- 
terraneans. Hie  wars  against  the  Mongols  were  nec- 
essary and  vital;  there  was  no  alternative  except  to 
fight  to  the  finish.  But  the  wars  of  northern  Europe 
against  the  south,  from  the  racial  point  of  view,  were 
not  only  useless  but  destructive.  Bad  as  they  were, 
however,  they  left  untouched  to  a  large  extent  the 
broodland  of  the  race  in  the  north  and  west. 

Another  class  of  wars,  however,  has  been  absolutely 
deadly  to  the  Nordic  race.  There  must  have  been  count- 
less early  struggles  where  one  Nordic  tribe  attacked 
and  exterminated  its  rival,  such  as  the  Trojan  War, 
fought  between  Achaeans  and  Phrygians,  both  Nordics, 
while  the  later  Peloponnesian  War  was  a  purely  civil 
strife  between  Greeks  and  resulted  in  the  racial  col- 
lapse of  Hellas. 

Rome,  after  she  emerged  triumphant  from  her 
struggle  with  the  Carthaginians,  of  Mediterranean  race, 
plunged  into  a  series  of  civil  wars  which  ended  in  the 
complete  elimination  of  the  native  Nordic  element  in 
Rome.  Her  conquests  also  were  destructive  to  the 
Nordic  race;  particularly  so  was  that  of  Caesar  in 
Gaul,  one  of  the  few  exceptional  eases  where  the  north 
was  permanently  conquered  by  the  south.  The  losses 


INTRODUCTION  xxix 

of  that  ten-year  conquest  fell  far  more  heavily  upon 
the  Nordic  Celts  in  Gaul  and  Britain  than  on  the 
servile  strata  of  the  population. 

In  the  same  way  the  Saxon  conquest  of  England 
destroyed  the  Nordic  Brythons  to  a  greater  degree 
than  the  pre-Nordic  Neolithic  Mediterranean  element. 
From  that  time  on  all  the  wars  of  Europe,  other  than 
those  against  the  Asiatics  and  Saracens,  were  essen- 
tially civil  wars  fought  between  peoples  or  leaders  of 
Nordic  blood. 

Mediaeval  Europe  was  one  long  welter  of  Nordic 
immolation  until  the  Wars  of  the  Roses  in  England, 
the  Hundred  Years'  War  in  the  Lowlands,  the  relig- 
ious, revolutionary,  and  Napoleonic  wars  in  France,  and 
the  ghastly  Thirty  Years'  War  in  Germany  dangerously 
depleted  the  ruling  Nordic  race  and  paved  the  way  for 
the  emergence  from  obscurity  of  the  servile  races  which 
for  ages  had  been  dominated  by  them. 

To  what  extent  the  present  war  has  fostered  this 
tendency,  time  alone  will  show,  but  Mr.  Stoddard  has 
pointed  out  some  of  the  immediate  and  visible  results. 
The  backbone  of  western  civilization  is  racially  Nordic, 
the  Alpines  and  Mediterraneans  being  effective  pre- 
cisely to  the  extent  in  which  they  have  been  Nordicized 
and  vitalized. 

If  this  great  race,  with  its  capacity  for  leadership 
and  fighting,  should  ultimately  pass,  with  it  would 
pass  that  which  we  call  civilization.  It  would  be  suc- 
ceeded by  an  unstable  and  bastardized  population, 
where  worth  and  merit  would  have  no  inherent  right 


xxx  INTRODUCTION 

to  leadership  and  among  which  a  new  and  darker  age 
would  blot  out  our  racial  inheritance. 

Such  a  catastrophe  cannot  threaten  if  the  Nordic 
race  will  gather  itself  together  in  time,  shake  off  the 
shackles  of  an  inveterate  altruism,  discard  the  vain 
phantom  of  internationalism,  and  reassert  the  pride 
of  race  and  the  right  of  merit  to  rule. 

The  Nordic  race  has  been  driven  from  many  of  its 
lands,  but  still  grasps  firmly  the  control  of  the  world, 
and  it  is  certainly  not  at  a  greater  numerical  disad- 
vantage than  often  before  in  contrast  to  the  teeming 
population  of  eastern  Asia. 

It  has  repeatedly  been  confronted  with  crises  where 
the  accident  of  battle,  or  the  genius  of  a  leader,  saved 
a  well-nigh  hopeless  day.  It  has  survived  defeat,  it 
has  survived  the  greater  danger  of  victory,  and,  if  it 
takes  warning  in  time,  it  may  face  the  future  with 
assurance.  Fight  it  must,  but  let  that  fight  be  not  a 
civil  war  against  its  own  blood  kindred  but  against 
the  dangerous  foreign  races,  whether  they  advance 
sword  in  hand  or  in  the  more  insidious  gnise  of  beggars 
at  our  gates,  pleading  for  admittance  to  share  our 
prosperity.  If  we  continue  to  allow  them  to  enter  they 
will  in  time  drive  us  out  of  our  own  land  by  mere  force 
of  breeding. 

The  great  hope  of  the  future  here  in  America  lies  in 
the  realization  of  the  working  class  that  competition 
of  the  Nordic  with  the  alien  is  fatal,  whether  the  latter 
be  the  lowly  immigrant  from  southern  or  eastern  Eu- 
rope or  whether  he  be  the  more  obviously  dangerous 


INTRODUCTION  xxxi 

Oriental  against  whose  standards  of  living  the  white 
man  cannot  compete.  In  this  country  we  must  look 
to  such  of  our  people — our  farmers  and  artisans — as 
are  still  of  American  blood  to  recognize  and  meet  this 
danger. 

Our  present  condition  is  the  result  of  following  the 
leadership  of  idealists  and  philanthropic  doctrinaires, 
aided  and  abetted  by  the  perfectly  understandable 
demand  of  our  captains  of  industry  for  cheap  labor. 

To-day  the  need  for  statesmanship  is  great,  and 
greater  still  is  the  need  for  thorough  knowledge  of 
history.  All  over  the  world  the  first  has  been  lacking, 
and  in  the  passions  of  the  Great  War  the  lessons  of  the 
past  have  been  forgotten  both  here  and  in  Europe. 

The  establishment  of  a  chain  of  Alpine  states  from 
the  Baltic  to  the  Adriatic,  as  a  sequel  to  the  war,  all 
of  them  organized  at  the  expense  of  the  Nordic  nih'ng 
classes,  may  bring  Europe  back  to  the  days  when 
Charlemagne,  marching  from  the  Rhine  to  the  Elbe, 
found  the  valley  of  that  river  inhabited  by  heathen 
Wends.  Beyond  lay  Asia,  and  his  successors  spent  a 
thousand  years  pushing  eastward  the  frontiers  of  Eu- 
rope. 

Now  that  Asia,  in  the  guise  of  Bolshevism  with  Semitic 
leadership  and  Chinese  executioners,  is  organizing  an 
assault  upon  western  Europe,  the  new  states — Slavic- 
Alpine  in  race,  with  little  Nordic  blood — may  prove  to 
be  not  frontier  guards  of  western  Europe  but  van- 
guards of  Asia  in  central  Europe.  None  of  the  earlier 
Alpine  states  have  held  firm  against  Asia,  and  it  is  more 


xxxii  INTRODUCTION 

than  doubtful  whether  Poland,  Bohemia,  Rumania, 
Hungary,  and  Jugo-Slavia  can  face  the  danger  success- 
fully, now  that  they  have  been  deprived  of  the  Nordic 
ruling  classes  through  democratic  institutions. 
r  Democratic  ideals  among  an  homogeneous  popula- 
tion of  Nordic  blood,  as  in  England  or  America,  is  one 
thing,  but  it  is  quite  another  for  the  white  man  to 
share  his  blood  with,  or  intrust  his  ideals  to,  brown, 
yellow,  black,  or  red  men. 

This  is  suicide  pure  and  simple,  and  the  first  victim 
of  this  amazing  folly  will  be  the  white  man  himself C\ 

MADISON  GRANT. 

NKW  YORK,  March  1,  1920. 


PART  I 
THE  RISING  TIDE  OF  COLOR 


J 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  WORLD  OF  COLOR 

THE  man  who,  on  a  quiet  spring  evening  of  the  year 
1914,  opened  his  atlas  to  a  political  map  of  the  world 
and  pored  over  its  many-tinted  patterns  probably  got 
one  fundamental  impression:  the  overwhelming  pre- 
ponderance of  the  white  race  in  the  ordering  of  the 
world's  affairs.  Judged  by  accepted  canons  of  state- 
craft, the  white  man  towered  the  indisputable  master 
of  the  planet.  Forth  from  Europe's  teeming  mother- 
hive  the  imperious  Sons  of  Japhet  had  swarmed  for 
centuries  to  plant  their  laws,  their  customs,  and  their 
battle-flags  at  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth.  Two 
whole  continents,  North  America  and  Australia,  had 
been  made  virtually  as  white  in  blood  as  the  European 
motherland;  two  other  continents,  South  America 
and  Africa,  had  been  extensively  colonized  by  white 
stocks;  while  even  huge  Asia  had  seen  its  empty  north- 
ern march,  Siberia,  pre-empted  for  the  white  man's 
abode.  Even  where  white  populations  had  not  locked 
themselves  to  the  soil  few  regions  of  the  earth  had 
escaped  the  white  man's  imperial  sway,  and  vast  areas 
inhabited  by  uncounted  myriads  of  dusky  folk  obeyed 
the  white  man's  will. 

Beside  the  enormous  area  of  white  settlement  or 
control,  the  regions  under  non- white  governance  bulked 

3 


4      THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

small  indeed.  In  eastern  Asia,  China,  Japan,  and 
Siam;  in  western  Asia,  Turkey,  Afghanistan,  and 
Persia;  in  Africa,  Abyssinia,  and  Liberia;  and  in  Amer- 
ica the  minute  state  of  Haiti:  such  was  the  brief  list 
of  lands  under  non-white  rule.  In  other  words,  of  the 
53,000,000  square  miles  which  (excluding  the  polar 
regions)  constitute  the  land  area  of  the  globe,  only 
6,000,000  square  miles  had  non-white  governments, 
and  nearly  two-thirds  of  this  relatively  modest  re- 
mainder was  represented  by  China  and  its  dependen- 
cies. 

Since  1914  the  world  has  been  convulsed  by  the 
most  terrible  war  in  recorded  history.  This  war  was 
primarily  a  struggle  between  the  white  peoples,  who 
have  borne  the  brunt  of  the  conflict  and  have  suffered 
most  of  the  losses.  Nevertheless,  one  of  the  war's 
results  has  been  a  further  whittling  down  of  the  areas 
standing  outside  white  political  control.  Turkey  is 
to-day  practically  an  Anglo-French  condominium, 
Persia  is  virtually  a  protectorate  of  the  British  Empire, 
while  the  United  States  has  thrown  over  the  endemic 
anarchy  of  Haiti  the  segis  of  the  Pax  Americana. 
Study  of  the  political  map  might  thus  apparently  lead 
one  to  conclude  that  white  world-predominance  is 
immutable,  since  the  war's  ordeal  has  still  further 
broadened  the  territorial  basis  of  its  authority. 

At  this  point  the  reader  is  perhaps  asking  himself 
why  this  book  was  ever  undertaken.  The  answer  is: 
the  dangerous  delusion  created  by  viewing  world  af- 
fairs solely  from  the  angle  of  politics.  The  late  war 


THE    WORLD    OF    COLOR  5 

has  taught  many  lessons  as  to  the  unstable  and  transi- 
tory character  of  even  the  most  imposing  political 
phenomena,  while  a  better  reading  of  history  must 
bring  home  the  truth  that  the  basic  factor  in  human 
affairs  is  not  politics,  but  race.  The  reader  has  already 
encountered  this  fundamental  truth  on  every  page  of 
the  Introduction.  He  will  remember,  for  instance,  how 
west-central  Asia,  which  in  the  dawn  of  history  was 
predominantly  white  man's  country,  is  to-day  racially 
brown  man's  land  in  which  white  blood  survives  only 
as  vestigial  traces  of  vanishing  significance.  If  this 
portion  of  Asia,  the  former  seat  of  mighty  white  em- 
pires and  possibly  the  very  homeland  of  the  white 
race  itself,  should  have  so  entirely  changed  its  ethnic 
character,  what  assurance  can  the  most  impressive 
political  panorama  give  us  that  the  present  world-order 
may  not  swiftly  and  utterly  pass  away  ? 

The  force  of  this  query  is  exemplified  when  we  turn 
from  the  political  to  the  racial  map  of  the  globe. 
,t  a  transformation !  Instead  of  a  world  politically 

ine-tenths  white,  we  see  a  world  of  which  only  f our- 
.ths  at  the  most  can  be  considered  predominantly 
in  blood,  the  rest  of  the  world  being  inhabited 
y  by  the  other  primary  races  of  mankind— 

eUows,  browns,  blacks,  andreds.  Speaking  by  con- 
ents,  Europe,  North  America  to  the  Rio  Grande, 

e  southern  portion  of  South  America,  the  Siberian 
of  Asia,  and  Australasia  constitute  the  real 

hite  world;  while  the  bulk  of  Asia,  virtually  the 

hole   of   Africa,   and  most  of  Central  and  South 


6     THE    RISING   TIDE    OF    COLOR 

America  form  the  world  of  color.  The  respective 
areas  of  these  two  racially  contrasted  worlds  are  22,- 
000,000  square  miles  for  the  whites  and  31,000,000 
square  miles  for  the  colored  races.  Furthermore  it 
must  be  remembered  that  fully  one-third  of  the  white 
area  (notably  Australasia  and  Siberia)  is  very  thinly 
inhabited  and  is  thus  held  by  a  very  slender  racial 
tenure — the  only  tenure  which  counts  in  the  long  run. 

The  statistical  disproportion  between  the  white 
and  colored  worlds  becomes  still  more  marked  when 
we  turn  from  surveys  of  area  to  tables  of  population. 
The  total  number  of  human  beings  alive  to-day  is 
about  1,700,000,000.  Of  these  550,000,000  are  white, 
while  1,150,000,000  are  Colored.  The  colored  races 
thus  outnumber  the  whites  more  than  two  to  one. 
Another  fact  of  capital  importance  is  that  the  great 
bulk  of  the  white  race  is  concentrated  in  the  European 
continent.  In  1914  the  population  of  Europe  was 
approximately  450,000,000.  The  late  war  has  un- 
doubtedly caused  an  absolute  decrease  of  many  mil- 
lions of  souls.  Nevertheless,  the  basic  fact  remains 
that  some  four-fifths  of  the  entire  white  race  is  con- 
centrated on  less  than  one-fifth  of  the  white  world's 
territorial  area  (Europe),  while  the  remaining  one- 
fifth  of  the  race  (some  110,000,000  souls),  scattered  to 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  must  protect  four-fifths  of  the 
white  territorial  heritage  against  the  pressure  of  colored 
races  eleven  times  its  numerical  strength. 

As  to  the  1,150,000,000  of  the  colored  world,  they 
are  divided,  as  already  stated,  into  four  primary  cate- 


, 


THE    WORLD    OF    COLOR  7 

gories:  yellows,  browns,  blacks,  and  reds.  The  yel- 
lows are  the  most  numerous  of  the  colored  races,  num- 
bering over  500,000,000.  Their  habitat  is  eastern 
Asia.  Nearly  as  numerous  and  much  more  wide-spread 
than  the  yellows  are  the  browns,  numbering  some 
450,000,000.  The  browns  spread  in  a  broad  belt  from 
the  Pacific  Ocean  westward  across  southern  Asia  and 
northern  Africa  to  the  Atlantic  Ocean.  The  blacks 
total  about  150,000,000.  Their  centre  is  Africa  south 
of  the  Sahara  Desert,  but  besides  the  African  conti- 
nent there  are  vestigial  black  traces  across  southern  I  I 
Asia  to  the  Pacific  and  also  strong  black  outposts 
in  the  Americas.  Least  numerous  of  the  colored 
race-stocks  are  the  reds — the  "Indians"  of  the  western 
hemisphere.  Mustering  a  total  of  less  than  40,000,000, 
the  reds  are  almost  all  located  south  of  the  Rio  Grande 
in  "Latin  America." 

Such  is  the  ethnic  make-up  of  that  world  of  color 
which,  as  already  seen,  outnumbers  the  white  world 
two  to  one.  That  is  a  formidable  ratio,  and  its  sig- 
nificance is  heightened  by  the  fact  that  this  ratio  seems 
destined  to  shift  still  further  in  favor  of  color.  There 
can  be  no  doubt  that  at  present  the  colored  races  are 
increasing  very  much  faster  than  the  white.  Treating 
the  primary  race-stocks  as  units,  it  would  appear  that 
whites  tend  to  double  in  eighty  years,  yellows  and 
browns  in  sixty  years,  blacks  in  forty  years.  The 
whites  are  thus  the  slowest  breeders,  and  they  will  un- 
doubtedly become  slower  still,  since  section  after  sec- 
tion of  the  white  race  is  revealing  that  lowered  birth- 


8      THE    RISING   TIDE    OF    COLOR 

rate  which  in  France  has  reached  the  extreme  of  a 
stationary  population. 

On  the  other  hand,  none  of  the  colored  races  shows 
perceptible  signs  of  declining  birth-rate,  all  tending  to 
breed  up  to  the  limits  of  available  subsistence.  Such 
checks  as  now  limit  the  increase  of  colored  popula- 
tions are  wholly  external,  like  famine,  disease,  and 
tribal  warfare.  But  by  a  curious  irony  of  fate,  the 
white  man  has  long  been  busy  removing  these  checks 
to  colored  multiplication.  The  greater  part  of  the 
colored  world  is  to-day  under  white  political  control. 
Wherever  the  white  man  goes  he  attempts  to  im- 
pose the  bases  of  his  ordered  civilization.  Hej  puts 
down  tribal  war,  he, wages  traceless  combat  against 
epidemic  disease,  and  he  so  improves  communications 
that  augmented  and  better  distributed  food-supplies 
minimize  the  blight  of  famine.  In  response  to  these 
life-saving  activities  the  enormous  death-rate  which  hi 
the  past  has  kept  the  colored  races  from  excessive 
multiplication  is  falling  to  proportions  comparable  with 
the  death-rate  of  white  countries.  But  to  lower  the 
colored  world's  prodigious  birth-rate  is  quite  another 
matter.  The  consequence  is  a  portentous  increase  of 
population  in  nearly  every  portion  of  the  colored  world 
now  under  white  political  sway.  In  fact,  even  those 
colored  countries  which  have  maintained  their  inde- 
pendence, such  as  China  and  Japan,  are  adopting  the 
white  man's  life-conserving  methods  and  are  experi- 
encing the  same  accelerated  increase  of  population. 

Now  what  must  be  the  inevitable  result  of  all  this? 


THE    WORLD   OF   COLOR  9 

It  can  mean  only  one  thing:  a  tremendous  and  stead- 
ily augmenting  outward  thrust  of  surplus  colored  men 
from  overcrowded  colored  homelands.  Remember  that 
these  homelands  are  already  populated  up  to  the  avail- 
able limits  of  subsistence.  Of  course  present  limits 
can  in  many  cases  be  pushed  back  by  better  living 
conditions,  improved  agriculture,  and  the  rise  of  mod- 
ern machine  industry  such  as  is  already  under  way  in 
Japan.  Nevertheless,  in  view  of  the  tremendous  pop- 
ulation increases  which  must  occur,  these  can  be  only 
palliatives.  Where,  then,  should  the  congested  colored 
world  tend  to  pour  its  accumulating  human  surplus, 
inexorably  condemned  to  emigrate  or  starve?  The 
answer  is:  into  those  emptier  regions  of  the  earth 
under  white  political  control.  But  many  of  these  rel- 
atively empty  lands  have  been  definitely  set  aside  by 
the  white  man  as  his  own  special  heritage.  The  up- 
shot is  that  the  rising  flood  of  color  finds  itself  walled 
in  by  white  dikes  debarring  it  from  many  a  promised 
land  which  it  would  fain  deluge  with  its  dusky  waves. 
Thus  the  colored  world,  long  restive  under  white 
political  domination,  is  being  welded  by  the  most 
fundamental  of  instincts,  the  instinct  of  self-preserva- 
tion, into  a  common  solidarity  of  feeling  against  the 
dominant  white  man,  and  in  the  fire  of  a  common  pur- 
pose internecine  differences  tend,  for  the  time  at  least, 
to  be  burned  away.  Before  the  supreme  fact  of  white 
political  world-domination,  antipathies  within  the 
colored  world  must  inevitably  recede  into  the  back- 
ground. 


10    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

The  imperious  urge  of  the  colored  world  toward 
racial  expansion  was  well  visualized  by  that  keen 
English  student  of  world  affairs.  Doctor  E.  J.  Dillon, 
when  he  wrote  more  than  a  decade  ago :  "  The  problem 
is  one  of  life  and  death — a  veritable  sphinx-question— 
to  those  most  nearly  concerned.  For,  no  race,  however 
inferior  it  may  be,  will  consent  to  famish  slowly  in 
order  that  other  people  may  fatten  and  take  their 
ease,  especially  if  it  has  a  good  chance  to  make  a  fight 
for  life."1 

This  white  statement  of  the  colored  thesis  is  an 
accurate  reflection  of  what  colored  men  say  them- 
selves. For  example,  a  Japanese  scholar,  Professor 
Ryutaro  Nagai,  writes:  "The  world  was  not  made 
for  the  white  races,  but  for  the  other  races  as  well. 
In  Australia,  South  Africa,  Canada,  and  the  United 
States,  there  are  vast  tracts  of  unoccupied  territory 
awaiting  settlement,  and  although  the  citizens  of  the 
ruling  Powers  refuse  to  take  up  the  land,  no  yellow 
people  are  permitted  to  enter.  Thus  the  white  races 
seem  ready  to  commit  to  the  savage  birds  and  beasts 
what  they  refuse  to  intrust  to  their  brethren  of  the 
yellow  race.  Surely  the  arrogance  and  avarice  of  the 
nobility  in  apportioning  to  themselves  the  most  and 
ae  beet  of  the  land  in  certain  countries  is  as  nothing 
compared  with  the  attitude  of  the  white  races  toward 
those  of  a  different  hue."2 

1  E.  J.  Dillon,  "The  Asiatic  Problem,"  Contemporary  Review,  Febru- 
ary, 1908. 

2  Ryutaro  Nagai  in  The  Japan  Magazine.    Quoted  from  The  Ameri- 
can Review  oj  Reviews,  July,  1913,  p.  107. 


THE    WORLD    OF    COLOR 

The  bitter  resentment  of  white  predominance 
exclusiveness  awakened  in  many  colored  breasts  ib 
typified  by  the  following  lines  penned  by  a  brown 
man,  a  British-educated  Afghan,  shortly  before  the 
European  War.  Inveighing  against  our  "racial  preju- 
dice, that  cowardly,  wretched  caste-mark  of  the  Eu- 
ropean and  the  American  the  world  over,"  he  exult- 
antly predicts  "a  cornuig~strugglenbetween  Asia,  all 
Asia,  against  Europe  and  America.  You  are  heaping 
up  material  for  a  Jehad,  a  Pan-Islam,  a  Pan-Asia 
Holy  War,  a  gigantic  day  of  reckoning,  an  invasion  of 
a  new  Attila  and  Tamerlane — who  will  use  rifles  and 
bullets,  instead  of  lances  and  spears.  You  are  deaf 
to  the  voice  of  reason  and  fairness,  and  so  you  must 
be  taught  with  the  whining  swish  of  the  sword  when 
it  is  red."1 

Of  course  in  these  statements  there  is  nothing  either 
exceptional  or  novel.  The  colored  races  never  wel- 
comed white  predominance  and  were  always  restive 
under  white  control.  Down  to  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century,  however,  they  generally  accepted 
white  hegemony  as  a  disagreeable  but  inevitable  fact. 
For  four  hundred  years  the  white  man  had  added  con- 
tinent to  continent  hi  his  imperial  progress,  equipped 
with  resistless  sea-power  and  armed  with  a  mechanical 
superiority  that  crushed  down  all  local  efforts  at  re- 
sistance. In  time,  therefore,  the  colored  races  accord- 
ed to  white  supremacy  a  fatalistic  acquiescence,  and, 

iAchmet  Abdullah,  "Seen  Through  Mohammedan  Spectacles/' 
Fontm,  October,  1914. 


10    TF 

/HE    RISING   TIDE   OF   COLOR 

T> 

tough  never  loved,  the  white  man  was  usually  re- 
spected and  universally  feared. 

During  the  closing  decades  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, to  be  sure,  premonitory  signs  of  a  change  in 
attitude  began  to  appear.  The  yellow  and  brown 
races,  at  least,  stirred  by  the  very  impact  of  Western 
ideas,  measured  the  white  man  with  a  more  critical 
eye  and  commenced  to  wonder  whether  his  supe- 
riority was  due  to  anything  more  than  a  fortuitous 
combination  of  circumstances  which  might  be  altered 
by  efforts  of  their  own.  Japan  put  this  theory  to 
the  test  by  going  sedulously  to  the  white  man's 
school.  The  upshot  was  the  Russo-Japanese  War  of 
1904,  an  event  the  momentous  character  of  which  is 
even  now  not  fully  appreciated.  Of  course,  that  war 
was  merely  the  sign-manual  of  a  whole  nexus  of 
forces  making  for  a  revivified  Asia.  But  it  drama- 
tized and  clarified  ideas  which  had  been  germinating 
half-unconsciously  in  millions  of  colored  minds,  and 
both  Asia  and  Africa  thrilled  with  joy  and  hope. 
Above  all,  the  legend  of  white  invincibility  lay,  a  fallen 
idol,  in  the  dust.  Nevertheless,  though  freed  from  im- 
aginary terrors,  the  colored  world  accurately  gauged 
the  white  man's  practical  strength  and  appreciated 
the  magnitude  of  the  task  involved  in  overthrowing 
white  supremacy.  That  supremacy  was  no  longer 
acquiesced  in  as  inevitable  and  hopes  of  ultimate  suc- 
cess were  confidently  entertained,  but  the  process  was 
usually  conceived  as  a  slow  and  difficult  one.  Fear  of 
white  power  and  respect  for  white  civilization  thus 
remained  potent  restraining  factors. 


THE    WORLD    OF    COLOR 

Then  came  the  Great  War.  The  colored  world  sud- 
denly saw  the  white  peoples  which,  in  racial  matters 
had  hitherto  maintained  something  of  a  united  front, 
locked  in  an  internecine  death-grapple  of  unparalleled 
ferocity;  it  saw  those  same  peoples  put  one  another 
furiously  to  the  ban  as  irreconcilable  foes;  it  saw  white 
race-unity  cleft  by  political  and  moral  gulfs  which 
white  men  themselves  continuously  iterated  would 
never  be  filled.  As  colored  men  realized  the  signifi- 
cance of  it  all,  they  looked  into  each  other's  eyes  and 
there  saw  the  light  of  undreamed-of  hopes.  The 
white  world  was  tearing  itself  to  pieces.  White  soli- 
darity was  riven  and  shattered.  And — fear  of  white 
power  and  respect  for  white  civilization  together 
dropped  away  like  garments  outworn.  Through  the 
bazaars  of  Asia  ran  the  sibilant  whisper:  "The  East 
will  see  the  West  to  bed !" 

The  chorus  of  mingled  exultation,  hate,  and  scorn 
sounded  from  every  portion  of  the  colored  world. 
Chinese  scholars,  Japanese  professors,  Hindu  pundits, 
Turkish  journalists,  and  Afro-American  editors,  one 
and  all  voiced  drastic  criticisms  of  white  civilization 
and  hailed  the  war  as  a  Well-merited  Nemesis  on  white 
arrogance  and  greed.  This  is  how  the  Constantinople 
Tanine,  the  most  serious  Turkish  newspaper,  character- 
ized the  European  Powers:  uThey  would  not  look  at 
the  evils  in  their  own  countries  or  elsewhere,  but  inter- 
fered at  the  slightest  incident  in  our  borders;  every  day 
they  would  gnaw  at  some  part  of  our  rights  and  our 
sovereignty;  they  would  perform  vivisection  on  our 
quivering  flesh  and  cut  off  great  pieces  of  it.  And  we, 


L 


l&    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

with  a  forcibly  controlled  spirit  of  rebellion  in  our 
hearts  and  with  clinched  but  powerless  fists,  silent  and 
depressed,  would  murmur  as  the  fire  burned  within: 
'Oh,  that  they  might  fall  out  with  one  another!  Oh, 
that  they  might  eat  one  another  up ! '  And  lo !  to-day 
they  are  eating  each  other  up,  just  as  the  Turk  wished 
they  would."1 

fhe  Afro-American  author,  W.  E.  Burghardt  Dubois, 
wrote  of  the  colored  world:  "These  nations  and  races, 
composing  as  they  do  a  vast  majority  of  humanity, 
are  going  to  endure  this  treatment  just  as  long  as 
they  must  and  not  a  moment  longer.  Then  they  are 
going  to  fight,  and  the  War  of  the  Color  Line  will 
outdo  in  savage  inhumanity  any  war  this  world  has 
yet  seen.  For  colored  folk  have  much  to  remember 
and  they  will  not  forget."2 

"What  does  the  European  War  mean  to  us  Orien- 
tals?" queried  the  Japanese  writer,  Yone  JSFoguchi. 
"It  means  the  saddest  downfall  of  the^so-eaifed  west-N 
ern  civilization;  our  belief  that  it  was  builded  upon  a 
higher  and  sounder  footing  than  ours  was  at  once 
knocked  down  and  killed;  we  are  sorry  that  we  some- 
how overestimated  its  happy  possibility  and  were  de- 
ceived and  cheated  by  its  superficial  glory.  My  recent 
western  journey  confirmed  me  that  the  so-called  dy- 
namic western  civilization  was  all  against  the  Asiatic 
belief.  And  when  one  does  not  respect  the  others, 

1  Quoted  from  The  Literary  Digest,  October  24,  1914,  p.  784. 
2W.  E.  Burghardt  Dubois    ''The  African  Roots  of  War,"  Atlantic 
Monthly,  May,  1915. 


DISTRIBUTION  OF  THE  PRIMARY  RACES 
I  1 


THE    WORLD   OF    COLOR          15 

there  will  be  only  one  thing  to  come,  that  is,  fight,  in 
action  or  silence." l 

Such  was  the  colored  world's  reaction  to  the  white 
death-grapple,  and  as  the  long  struggle  dragged  on 
both  Asia  and  Africa  stirred  to  their  very  depths.  To 
be  sure,  no  great  explosions  occurred  during  the  war 
years,  albeit  lifting  veils  of  censorship  reveal  how  nar- 
rowly such  explosions  were  averted.  Nevertheless, 
Asia  and  Africa  are  to-day  in  acute  ferment,  and  we 
must  not  forget  that  this  ferment  is  not  primarily  due 
to  the  war.  The  war  merely  accelerated  a  movement 
already  existent  long  before  1914.  Even  if  the  Great 
War  had  been  averted,  the  twentieth  century  must 
have  been  a  time  of  wide-spread  racial  readjustments 
in  which  the  white  man's  present  position  of  political 
world-domination  would  have  been  sensibly  modified, 
especially  in  Asia.  However,  had  the  white  race  and 
white  civilization  been  spared  the  terrific  material  and 
moral  losses  involved  in  the  Great  War  and  its  still 
unliquidated  aftermath,  the  process  of  racial  readjust- 
ment would  have  been  far  more  gradual  and  would 
have  been  fraught  with  far  fewer  cataclysmic  possibili- 
ties. Had  white  strength  remained  intact  it  would  have 
acted  as  a  powerful  shock-absorber,  taking  up  and  dis- 
tributing the  various  colored  impacts.  As  a  result, 
the  coming  modification  of  the  world's  racial  equilib- 
rium, though  inevitable,  would  have  been  so  graduated 
,t  it  would  have  seemed  more  an  evolution  than  a 


tha' 

n 


1  Yone  Noguchi,  "The  Downfall  of  Western  Civilization,"  The  Nor- 
ton  (New  York),  October  8,  1914. 


16    THE    RISING   TIDE   OF   COLOR 

revolution.  Such  violent  breaches  as  did  occur  might 
have  been  localized,  and  anything  like  a  general  race- 
cataclysm  would  probably  have  been  impossible. 

But  it  was  not  to  be.  The  heart  of  the  white  world 
was  divided  against  itself,  and  on  the  fateful  1st  of 
August,  1914,  the  white  race,  forgetting  ties  of  blood 
and  culture,  heedless  of  the  growing  pressure  of  the 
colored  world  without,  locked  in  a  battle  to  the  death. 
An  ominous  cycle  opened  whose  end  no  man  can  fore- 
see. Armageddon  engendered  Versailles;  earth's  worst 
war  closed  with  an  unconstructive  peace  which  left 
old  sores  unhealed  and  even  dealt  fresh  wounds.  The 
white  world  to-day  lies  debilitated  and  uncured;  the 
colored  world  views  conditions  which  are  a  standing 
incitement  to  rash  dreams  and  violent  action. 

Such  is  the  present  status  of  the  world's  race-problem, 
expressed  in  general  terms.  The  analysis  of  the  speci- 
fic elements  in  that  complex  problem  will  form  the 
subject  of  the  succeeding  chapters. 


CHAPTER  II 
YELLOW  MAN'S  LAND 

YELLOW  MAN'S  LAND  is  the  Far  East.  Here  the 
group  of  kindred  stocks  usually  termed  Mongolian 
have  dwelt  for  unnumbered  ages.  Down  to  the  most 
recent  times  the  yellows  lived  virtually  a  life  apart. 
Sundered  from  the  rest  of  mankind  by  stupendous 
mountains,  burning  deserts,  and  the  illimitable  ocean, 
the  Far  East  constituted  a  world  in  itself,  living  its 
own  life  and  developing  its  own  peculiar  civilization. 
Only  the  wild  nomads  of  its  northern  marches — Huns, 
Mongols,  Tartars,  and  the  like — succeeded  in  gaining 
direct  contact  with  the  brown  and  white  worlds  to  the 
West. 

The  ethnic  fucus  of  the  yellow  world  has  always 
been  China.    Since  the  dawn  of  history  this  immense 
human  ganglion  has  been  the  centre  from  which  civili- 
ition  has  radiated  throughout  the  Far  East.    About 
"Middle  Kingdom,"  as  it  sapiently  styled  itself, 
other  yellow  folk  were  disposed — Japanese  and 
Koreans  to  the  east;  Siamese,  Annamites,  and  Cam- 
ians  to  the  south;   and  to  the  north  the  nomad 
[ongols  and  Manchus. ,  To  all  these  peoples  China 
fas  the  august  preceptor,  sometimes  chastising  their 
)resumption,  yet  always  instilling  the  principles  of  its 
civilization.    However  diverse  may  have  been 
17 


18    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF    COLOR 

the  individual  developments  of  the  various  Far  East- 
ern peoples,  they  spring  from  a  common  Chinese 
foundation.  Despite  modern  Japan's  meteoric  rise 
to  political  mastery  of  the  Far  East,  it  must  not  be 
forgotten  that  China  remains  not  only  the  cultural 
but  also  the  territorial  and  racial  centre  of  the  yellow 
world.  Four-fifths  of  the  yellow  race  is  concentrated 
in  China,  there  being  nearly  400,000,000  Chinese  as 
against  60,000,000  Japanese,  16,000,000  Koreans,  26,- 
000,000  Indo-Chinese,  and  perhaps  10,000,000  people 
of  non-Chinese  stocks  included  within  China's  political 
frontiers. 

The  age-long  seclusion  of  the  yellow  world,  first 
decreed  by  nature,  was  subsequently  maintained  by 
the  voluntary  decision  of  the  yellow  peoples  themselves. 
The  great  expansive  movement  of  the  white  race  which 
began  four  centuries  ago  soon  brought  white  men  to 
the  Far  East,  by  sea  in  the  persons  of  the  Portuguese 
navigators  and  by  land  with  the  Cossack  adventurers 
ranging  through  the  empty  spaces  of  Siberia.  Yet 
after  a  brief  acquaintance  with  the  white  strangers  the 
yellow  world  decided  that  it  wanted  none  of  them,  and 
they  were  rigidly  excluded.  This  exclusion  policy  was 
not  a  Chinese  peculiarity;  it  was  common  to  all  the 
yellow  peoples  and  was  adopted  spontaneously  at 
about  the  same  time.  In  China,  Japan,  Korea,  and 
Indo-China,  the  same  reaction  produced  the  same  re- 
sults. The  yellow  world  instinctively  felt  the  white 
man  to  be  a  destructive,  dissolving  influence  on  its 
highly  specialized  line  of  evolution,  which  it  wished  to 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  19 

maintain  unaltered.  For  three  centuries  the  yellow 
world  succeeded  in  maintaining  its  isolation,  then,  in 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  insistent  white  pressure 
broke  down  the  barriers  and  forced  the  yellow  races 
into  full  contact  with  the  outer  world. 

At  the  moment,  the  "opening"  of  the  Far  East  was 
hailed  by  white  men  with  general  approval,  but  of  late 
years  many  white  observers  have  regretted  this  forcible 
dragging  of  reluctant  races  into  the  full  stream  of  world 
affairs.  As  an  Australian  writer,  J.  Liddell  Kelly, 
remarks:  "We  have  erred  grievously  by  prematurely 
forcing  ourselves  upon  Asiatic  races.  The  instinct  of 
the  Asiatic  in  desiring  isolation  and  separation  from 
other  forms  of  civilization  was  much  more  correct  than 
our  craze  for  imposing  our  forms  of  religion,  morals, 
and  industrialism  upon  them.  It  is  not  race-hatred, 
nor  even  race-antagonism,  that  is  at  the  root  of  this 
attitude;  it  is  an  unerring  intuition,  which  in  years 
gone  by  has  taught  the  Asiatic  that  his  evolution  in 
the  scale  of  civilization  could  best  be  accomplished  by 
his  being  allowed  to  develop  on  his  own  lines.  Per- 
nicious European  compulsion  has  led  him  to  abandon 
that  attitude.  Let  us  not  be  ashamed  to  confess  that 
he  was  right  and  we  were  wrong." 1 

However,  rightly  or  wrongly,  the  deed  was  done,  and 
the  yellow  races,  forced  into  the  world-arena,  proceeded 
to  adapt  themselves  to  their  new  political  environment 
and  to  learn  the  correct  methods  of  survival  under  the 

U.  Liddell  Kelly,  "What  is  the  Matter  with  the  Asiatic?"  West- 
minster Review,  September,  1910. 


20    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

strenuous  conditions  which  there  prevailed.  In  place 
of  their  traditional  equilibrated,  self-sufficient  order, 
the  yellow  peoples  now  felt  the  ubiquitous  impacts 
of  the  dynamic  Western  spirit,  insistent  upon  rapid 
material  progress  and  forceful,  expansive  evolution. 
Japan  was  the  first  yellow  people  to  go  methodically 
to  the  white  man's  school,  and  Japan's  rapid  acquire- 
ment of  the  white  man's  technology  soon  showed  itself 
in  dramatic  demonstrations  like  her  military  triumphs 
over  China  in  1894,  and  over  Russia  a  decade  later.! 

Japan's  easy  victory  over  huge  China  astounded  the 
whole  world .  That  these  ' l  highly  intelligent  children, ' ' 
as  one  of  the  early  British  ministers  to  Japan  had  char- 
acterized them,  should  have  so  rapidly  acquired  the 
technique  of  Western  methods  was  almost  unbelievable. 
Indeed,  the  full  significance  of  the  lesson  was  not  im- 
mediately grasped,  and  the  power  of  New  Japan  was 
still  underestimated.  A  good  example  of  Europe's 
underestimation  of  Japanese  strength  was  the  proposal 
a  Dutch  writer  made  in  1896  to  curb  possible  Japanese 
aggression  on  the  Dutch  Indies  by  taking  from  Japan 
the  island  of  Formosa  which  Japan  had  acquired  from 
China  as  one  of  the  fruits  of  victory.  "Holland," 
asserted  this  writer,  "must  take  possession  of  For- 
mosa, ' ' 1  The  grotesqueness  of  this  dictum  as  it  appears 
to  us  in  the  light  of  subsequent  history  shows  how  the 
world  has  moved  in  twenty-five  years. 

But  even  at  that  time  Japan's  expansionist  ten- 

1  Professor  Schlegel  in  the  Hague  Dagblad.  Quoted  from  The  Liter- 
ary Digest,  November  7,  1896,  p.  24. 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  21 

dencies  were  well  developed,  and  voices  were  warning 
against  Japanese  imperialism.  In  the  very  month 
when  our  Hollander  was  advocating  a  Dutch  seizure  of 
Formosa,  an  Australian  wrote  the  following  lines  in  a 
Melbourne  newspaper  concerning  his  recent  travels  in 
Japan:  " While  in  a  car  with  several  Japanese  officers, 
they  were  conversing  about  Australia,  saying  that  it 
was  a  fine,  large  country,  with  great  forests  and  excel- 
lent soil  for  the  cultivation  of  rice  and  other  products. 
The  whites  settled  in  Australia,  so  thought  these 
officers,  are  like  the  dog  in  the  manger.  Some  one 
will  have  to  take  a  good  part  of  Australia  to  develop 
it,  for  it  is  a  pity  to  see  so  fine  a  ^country  lying  waste. 
If  any  ill-feeling  arose  between  the  two  countries,  it 
would  be  a  wise  thing  to  send  some  battleships  to 
Australia  and  annex  part  of  it."1 

Whatever  may  have  been  the-  world's  misreading  of 
the  Chino-Japanese  conflict,  the  same  cannot  be  said 
of  the  Russo-Japanese  War  of  1904.  The  echoes  of 
that  yellow  triumph  over  one  of  the  great  white  Powers 
reverberated  to  the  ends  of  the  earth  and  started  ob- 
scure trains  of  consequences  even  to-day  not  yet  fully 
disclosed.  The  war's  reactions  in  these  remoter  fields 
will  be  discussed  in  later  chapters.  Its  effect  upon  the 
Far  East  is  our  present  concern.  And  the  well-nigh 
unanimous  opinion  of  both  natives  and  resident  Euro- 
peans was  that  the  war  signified  a  body-blow  to  white 
ascendancy.  So  profound  an  English  student  of  the 

1  Audley  Coote  in  the  Melbourne  Argus.  Quoted  from  The  Literary 
Digest,  November  7,  1896,  p.  24. 


22    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Orient  as  Meredith  Townsend  wrote:  "It  may  be 
taken  as  certain  that  the  victory  of  Japan  will  be  pro- 
foundly felt  by  the  majority  of  European  states. 
With  the  exception  of  Austria,  all  European  countries 
have  implicated  themselves  in  the  great  effort  to  con- 
quer Asia,  which  has  now  been  going  on  for  two  cen- 
turies, but  which,  as  this  author  thinks,  must  now 
terminate.  .  .  .  The  disposition,  therefore,  to  edge  out 
intrusive  Europeans  from  their  Asiatic  possessions  is 
certain  to  exist  even  if  it  is  not  manifested  in  Tokio, 
and  it  may  be  fostered  by  a  movement  of  which,  as 
yet,  but  little  has  been  said.  No  one  who  has  ever 
studied  the  question  doubts  that  as  there  is  a  comity 
of  Europe,  so  there  is  a  comity  of  Asia,  a  disposition  to 
believe  that  Asia  belongs  of  right  to  Asiatics,  and  that 
any  event  which  brings  that  right  nearer  to  realization 
is  to  all  Asiatics  a  pleasurable  one.  Japanese  victories 
will  give  new  heart  and  energy  to  all  the  Asiatic  na- 
tions and  tribes  which  now  fret  under  European  rule, 
will  inspire  in  them  a  new  confidence  in  their  own  power 
to  resist,  and  will  spread  through  them  a  strong  im- 
pulse to  avail  themselves  of  Japanese  instruction.  It 
will  take,  of  course,  many  years  to  bring  this  new  force 
into  play;  but  time  matters  nothing  to  Asiatics,  and 
they  all  possess  that  capacity  for  complete  secrecy  which 
the  Japanese  displayed."1 

That  Meredith  Townsend  was  reading  Hie  Asiatic 
mind  aright  seems  clear  from  the  pronouncements  of 

1  Meredith  Townsend,  "Asia  and  Europe"   (fourth  edition,  1911). 
From  the  preface  to  the  fourth  edition,  pages  xvii-xix. 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  23 

Orientals  themselves.  For  example,  Buddhism,  of  Ran- 
goon, Burmah,  a  country  of  the  Indo-Chinese  border- 
land between  the  yellow  and  brown  worlds,  expressed 
hopes  for  an  Oriental  alliance  against  the  whites.  "It 
would,  we  think,"  said  this  paper,  "be  no  great  wonder 
if  a  few  years  after  the  conclusion  of  this  war  saw  the 
completion  of  a  defensive  alliance  between  Japan, 
China,  and  not  impossibly  Siam — the  formulation  of  a 
new  Monroe  Doctrine  for  the  Far  East,  guaranteeing 
the  integrity  of  existing  states  against  further  aggression 
from  the  West.  The  West  has  justified — perhaps  with 
some  reason — every  aggression  on  weaker  races  by  the 
doctrine  of  the  Survival  of  the  Fittest;  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  best  for  future  humanity  that  the  unfit 
should  be  eliminated  and  give  place  to  the  most  able 
race.  That  doctrine  applies  equally  well  to  any  possible 
struggle  between  Aryan  and  Mongolian — whichever 
survives,  should  it  ever  come  to  a  struggle  between  the 
two  for  world-mastery,  will,  on  their  own  doctrine,  be 
the  one  most  fit  to  do  so,  and  if  the  survivor  be  the 
Mongolian,  then  is  the  Mongolian  no  ' peril '  to  hu- 
manity, but  the  better  part  of  it."  * 

The  decade  which  elapsed  between  the  Russo- 
Japanese  and  European  Wars  saw  in  the  Far  East  an- 
other event  of  the  first  magnitude :  the  Chinese  Revolu- 
tion of  1911.  Toward  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century  the  world  had  been  earnestly  discussing  the 
"break-up"  of  China.  The  huge  empire,  with  its 
400,000,000  of  people,  one-fourth  the  entire  human  race, 

1  Quoted  from  The  American  Review  of  Reviews,  February,  1905,  p.  219. 


24    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

seemed  at  that  time  plunged  in  so  hopeless  a  lethargy 
as  to  be  foredoomed  to  speedy  ruin.  About  the  ap- 
parently moribund  carcass  the  eagles  of  the  earth  were 
already  gathered,  planning  a  "partition  of  China" 
analogous  to  the  recent  partition  of  Africa.  The  parti- 
tion of  China,  however,  never  came  off.  The  prodigi- 
ous moral  shock  of  the  Japanese  War  roused  China's 
elite  to  the  imminence  of  their  country's  peril.  First 
attempts  at  reform  were  blocked  by  the  Dowager 
Empress,  but  her  reactionary  lurch  ended  in  the  Boxer 
nightmare  and  the  frightful  Occidental  chastisement  of 
1900.  This  time  the  lesson  was  learned.  China  was 
at  last  shaken  broad  awake.  The  Bourbon  Manchu 
court,  it  is  true,  wavered,  but  popular  pressure  forced 
it  to  keep  the  upward  path.  Every  year  after  1900  saw 
increasingly  rapid  reform — reform,  be  it  noted,  not 
imposed  upon  the  country  from  above  but  forced  upon 
the  rulers  from  below.  When  the  slow-footed  Manchus 
showed  themselves  congenitally  incapable  of  keeping 
step  with  the  quickening  national  pace,  the  rising  tide 
of  national  life  overwhelmed  them  in  the  Republican 
Revolution  of  1911,  and  they  were  no  more. 

Even  with  the  Manchu  handicap,  the  rate  of  prog- 
ress during  those  years  was  such  as  to  amaze  the 
wisest  foreign  observers.  "Could  the  sage,  Confucius, 
have  returned  a  decade  ago,"  wrote  that  "old  China 
hand,"  W.  R.  Manning,  in  1910,  '(he  would  have  felt 
almost  as  much  at  home  as  when  he  departed  twenty- 
five  centuries  before.  Should  he  return  a  decade  hence 
he  will  feel  almost  as  much  out  of  place  as  Rip  Van 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  25 

Winkle,  if  the  recent  rate  of  progress  continues.^1 
Toward  the  close  of  1909  a  close  student  of  things 
Chinese,  Harlan  P.  Beach,  remarked:  " Those  who,  like 
myself,  can  compare  the  China  of  twenty-five  years 
ago  with  the  China  of  this  year,  can  hardly  believe  our 
senses."5  It  was  on  top  of  all  this  that  there  came  the 
revolution,  a  happening  hailed  by  so  sophisticated  an 
observer  as  Doctor  Dillon  as  "the  most  momentous 
event  in  a  thousand  years. ' ' 3  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  political  blunders  of  the  revolutionists  (and  they 
were  many),  the  revolution's  moral  results  were 
stupendous.  The  stream  of  Western  innovation  flowed 
at  a  vastly  accelerated  pace  into  every  Chinese  province. 
The  popular  masses  were  for  the  first  time  awakened 
to  genuine  interest  in  political,  as  distinguished  from 
economic  or  personal,  questions.  Lastly,  the  semi- 
religious  feeling  of  family  kinship,  which  in  the  past 
had  been  almost  the  sole  recognized  bond  of  Chinese 
race-solidarity,  was  powerfully  supplemented  by  those 
distinctively  modern  concepts,  national  self-conscious- 
ness and  articulate  patriotism. 

Here  was  the  Far  Eastern  situation  at  the  out- 
break of  the  Great  War — a  thoroughly  modernized, 
powerful  Japan,  and  a  thoroughly  aroused,  but  still 
disorganized,  China.  The  Great  War  automatically 
made  Japan  supreme  in  the  Far  East  by  temporarily 

JW.  R.  Manning,  "China  and  the  Powers  Since  the  Boxer  Move- 
ment," American  Journal  of  International  Law,  October,  1910. 

2  Quoted  by  Manning,  supra. 

3 E.  J.  Dillon,  "The  Most  Momentous  Event  in  a  Thousand  Years," 
Contemporary  Review,  December,  1911. 


26    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 


reducing  all  the  European  Powers  to  ciphers  in  Oriental 
affairs.  How  Japan  proceeded  to  buttress  this  su- 
premacy by  getting  a  strangle-hold  on  China,  every 
one  knows.  Japan's  methods  were  brutal  and  cynical, 
though  not  a  whit  more  so  than  the  methods  employed 
by  white  nations  seeking  to  attain  vital  ends.  And 
"vital"  is  precisely  how  Japan  regards  her  hold  over 
China.  An  essentially  poor  country  with  a  teeming 
population,  Japan  feels  that  the  exploitation  of  China's 
incalculable  natural  resources,  a  privileged  position 
in  the  Chinese  market,  and  guidance  of  Chinese  na- 
tional evolution  in  ways  not  inimical  to  Japan,  can  alone 
assure  her  future. 

Japan's  attitude  toward  her  huge  neighbor  is  one 
of  mingled  superiority  and  apprehension.  She  banks 
on  China's  traditional  pacifism,  yet  she  is  too  shrewd 
not  to  realize  the  explosive  possibilities  latent  in  the 
modern  nationalist  idea.  As  a  Japanese  publicist, 
Adachi  Kinnosuke,  remarks:  "The  Twentieth  Cen- 
tury Jenghiz  Khan  threatening  the  Sun-Flag  with  a 
Mongol  horde  armed  with  Krupp  guns  may  possibly 
strike  the  Western  sense  of  humor.  But  it  is  not  al- 
together pleasing  to  contemplate  a  neighbor  of  400,- 
000,000  population  with  modern  armament  and  soldiers 
trained  on  the  modern  plan.  The  awakening  of  China 
means  all  this  and  a  little  more  which  we  of  the  present 
are  not  sure  of.  Japan  cannot  forget  that  between  this 
nightmare  of  armed  China  and  herself  there  is  only  a 
very  narrow  sea."1  Certainly,  "  Young  China"  has 


i  Kinnosuke,  "Does  Japanese  Trade  Endanger  the  Peace  of 
Asia?"  World's  Work,  April,  1909. 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  27 

already  displayed  much  of  that  unpleasant  ebullience 
which  usually  accompanies  nationalist  awakenings. 
A  French  observer,  Jean  Rodes,  writes  on  this  point: 
"One  of  the  things  that  most  disquiet  thinking  men 
is  that  this  new  generation,  completely  neglecting  Chi- 
nese studies  while  knowing  nothing  of  Western  science, 
yet  convinced  that  it  knows  everything,  will  no  longer 
possess  any  standard  of  values,  national  culture,  or 
foreign  culture.  We  can  only  await  with  apprehen- 
sion the  results  of  such  ignorance  united  with  un- 
bounded pride  as  characterize  the  Chinese  youth  of 
to-day."1  And  another  French  observer,  Rene*  Pinon, 
as  far  back  as  1905,  found  the  primary  school  children 
of  Kiang-Su  province  chanting  the  following  lines: 
"I  pray  that  the  frontiers  of  my  country  become 
hard  as  bronze;  that  it  surpass  Europe  and  America; 
that  it  subjugate  Japan;  that  its  land  and  sea  armies 
cover  themselves  with  resplendent  glory;  that  over  the 
whole  earth  float  the  Dragon  Standard;  that  the  uni- 
versal mastery  of  the  empire  extend  and  progress. 
May  our  empire,  like  a  sleeping  tiger  suddenly  awak- 
ened, spring  roaring  into  the  arena  of  combats."2 

Japan's  masterful  policy  in  China  is  thus  unques- 
tionably hazardous.  Chinese  national  feeling  is  to- 
day genuinely  aroused  against  Japan,  and  resentment 
over  Japanese  encroachments  is  bitter  and  wide-spread. 
Nevertheless,  Japan  feels  that  the  game  is  worth  the 
risk  and  believes  that  both  Chinese  race-psychology 
and  the  general  drift  of  world  affairs  combine  to  favor 

1  Jean  Rodes  in  L'Asic  Fran$aise,  June,  1911. 

8  Rene"  Pinon,  "La  Lutte  pour  le  Pacifique,"  p.  152  (Paris,  1906). 


28    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

her  ultimate  success.  She  knows  that  China  has  in 
the  past  always  acquiesced  in  foreign  domination  when 
resistance  has  proved  patently  impossible.  She  also 
feels  that  her  aspirations  for  white  expulsion  from  the 
Far  East  and  for  the  winning  of  wider  spheres  for  racial 
expansion  should  appeal  strongly  to  yellow  peoples 
generally  and  to  the  Chinese  in  particular.  To  turn 
China's  nascent  nationalism  into  purely  anti-white 
channels  and  to  transmute  Chinese  patriotism  into  a 
wider  "Pan-Mongolism"  would  constitute  a  Japanese 
triumph  of  incalculable  splendor.  It  would  increase 
her  effective  force  manyfold  and  would  open  up  almost 
limitless  vistas  of  power  and  glory. 

Nor  are  the  Chinese  themselves  blind  to  the  ad- 
vantages of  Chino- Japanese  co-operation.  They  haye 
an  instinctive  assurance  in  their  own  capacities,  they 
know  how  they  have  ultimately  digested  all  their 
conquerors,  and  many  Chinese  to-day  think  that  from 
a  Chino-Japanese  partnership,  no  matter  how  framed, 
the  inscrutable  "Sons  of  Han"  would  eventually  get 
the  lion's  share.  Certainly  no  one  has  ever  denied  the 
Chinaman's  extraordinary  economic  efficiency.  Win- 
nowed by  ages  of  grim  elimination  in  a  land  populated 
to  the  uttermost  limits  of  subsistence,  the  Chinese 
race  is  selected  as  no  other  for  survival  under  the  fierc- 
est conditions  of  economic  stress.  At  home  the  aver- 
age Chinese  lives  his  whole  life  literally  within  a  hand's 
breadth  of  starvation.  Accordingly,  when  removed 
to  the  easier  environment  of  other  lands,  the  China- 
man brings  with  him  a  working  capacity  which  simply 
appalls  his  competitors.  That  urbane  Celestial,  Doctor 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  29 

Wu-Ting-Fang,  well  says  of  his  own  people:  " Experi- 
ence proves  that  the  Chinese  as  all-round  laborers  can 
easily  outdistance  all  competitors.  They  are  industri- 
ous, intelligent,  and  orderly.  They  can  work  under 
conditions  that  would  kill  a  man  of  less  hardy  race; 
in  heat  that  would  kill  a  salamander,  or  in  cold  that 
would  please  a  polar  bear,  sustaining  their  energies 
through  long  hours  of  unremitting  toil  with  only  a  few 
bowls  of  rice."1  This  Chinese  estimate  is  echoed  by 
the  most  competent  foreign  observers.  The  Austra- 
lian thinker,  Charles  H.  Pearson,  wrote  of  the  Chinese 
a  generation  ago  in  his  epoch-making  book,  "National 
Life  and  Character":  "Flexible  as  Jews,  they  can 
thrive  on  the  mountain  plateaux  of  Thibet  and  under 
the  sun  of  Singapore;  more  versatile  even  than  Jews, 
they  are  excellent  laborers,  and  not  without  merit 
as  soldiers  and  sailors;  while  they  have  a  capacity  for 
trade  which  no  other  nation  of  the  East  possesses. 
They  do  not  need  even  the  accident  of  a  man  of  genius 
to  develop  their  magnificent  future."2  And  Lafcadio 
Hearn  says:  rA  people  of  hundreds  of  millions  dis- 
ciplined for  thousands  of  years  to  the  most  untiring 
industry  and  the  most  self-denying  thrift,  under  con- 
ditions which  would  mean  worse  than  death  for  our 
working  masses — a  people,  in  short,  quite  content  to 
strive  to  the  uttermost  in  exchange  for  the  simple 
privilege  of  life."3; 

1  Quoted  by  Alleyne  Ireland,  "Commercial  Aspects  of  the  Yellow 
Peril,"  North  American  Review,  September,  1900. 

2  Charles  H.  Pearson,  "National  Life  and  Character,"  p.  118  (2d 
edition). 

3  Quoted  by  Ireland,  supra. 


30    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

This  economic  superiority  of  the  Chinaman  shows 
not  only  with  other  races,  but  with  his  yellow  kindred 
as  well.  As  regards  the  Japanese,  John  Chinaman  has 
proved  it  to  the  hilt.  Wherever  the  two  have  met  in 
economic  competition,  John  has  won  hands  down. 
Even  in  Japanese  colonies  like  Korea  and  Formosa, 
the  Japanese,  with  all  the  backing  of  their  government 
behind  them,  have  been  worsted.  In  fact,  Japan  it- 
self, so  bitter  at  white  refusals  to  receive  her  emigrants, 
has  been  obliged  to  enact  drastic  exclusion  laws  to 
protect  her  working  classes  from  the  influx  of  "  Chinese 
cheap  labor."  It  seems,  therefore,  a  just  calculation 
when  Chinese  estimate  that  Japanese  triumphs  against 
white  adversaries  would  inure  largely  to  China's  bene- 
fit. After  all,  Chinese  and  Japanese  are  fundamentally 
of  the  same  race  and  culture.  They  may  have  their 
very  bitter  family  quarrels,  but  in  the  last  analysis  they 
understand  each  other  and  may  arrive  at  surprisingly 
sudden  agreements.  One  thing  is  certain:  both  these 
over-populated  lands  will  feel  increasingly  the  imperi- 
ous need  of  racial  expansion.  For  all  these  reasons, 
then,  the  present  political  tension  between  China  and 
Japan  cannot  be  reckoned  as  permanent,  and  we 
would  do  well  to  envisage  the  possibility  of  close  Chinese 
co-operation  in  the  ambitious  programme  of  Japanese 
foreign  policy. 

This  Japanese  programme  looks  first  to  the  preven- 
tion of  all  further  white  encroachment  in  the  Far  East 
by  the  establishment  of  a  Far  Eastern  Monroe  Doc* 
trine  based  on  Japanese  predominance  and  backed 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  31 

if  possible  by  the  moral  support  of  the  other  Far 
Eastern  peoples.  The  next  stage  in  Japanese  foreign 
policy  seems  to  be  the  systematic  elimination  of  all 
existing  white  holdings  in  the  Far  East.  Thus  far 
practically  all  Japanese  appear  to  be  in  substantial 
agreement.  Beyond  this  point  lies  a  wide  realm  of 
aspiration  ranging  from  determination  to  secure  com- 
plete racial  equality  and  freedom  of  immigration  into 
white  lands  to  imperialistic  dreams  of  wholesale  con- 
quests and  "world-dominion."  These  last  items  do 
not  represent  the  united  aspiration  of  the  Japanese 
nation,  but  they  are  cherished  by  powerful  circles 
which,  owing  to  Japan's  oligarchical  system  of  govern- 
ment, possess  an  influence  over  governmental  action 
quite  disproportionate  to  their  numbers. 

Although  Japanese  plans  and  aspirations  have  broad- 
ened notably  since  1914,  their  outlines  were  well  de- 
fined a  decade  earlier.  Immediately  after  her  victory 
over  Russia,  Japan  set  herself  to  strengthen  her  in- 
fluence all  over  eastern  Asia.  Special  efforts  were  made 
to  establish  intimate  relations  with  the  other  Asiatic 
peoples.  Asiatic  students  were  invited  to  attend  Jap- 
anese universities  and  as  a  matter  of  fact  did  attend 
by  the  thousand,  while  a  whole  series  of  societies  was 
formed  having  for  their  object  the  knitting  of  close 
cultural  and  economic  ties  between  Japan  and  specific 
regions  like  China,  Siam,tthe  Pacific,  and  even  India. 
The  capstone  was  a  "  Pan- Asiatic  Association,"  founded 
by  Count  Okuma.  Some  of  the  facts  regarding  these 
societies,  about  which  too  little  is  known,  make  in- 


32    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

teresting  reading.  For  instance,  there  was  the  "  Pacific 
Ocean  Society"  ("Taheijoka"),  whose  preamble  reads 
in  part:  "For  a  century  the  Pacific  Ocean  has  been  a 
battle-ground  wherein  the  nations  have  struggled  for 
supremacy.  To-day  the  prosperity  or  decadence  of  a 
nation  depends  on  its  power  in  the  Pacific:  to  possess 
the  empire  of  the  Pacific  is  to  be  the  Master  of  the 
World.  As  Japan  finds  itself  at  the  centre  of  that 
Ocean,  whose  waves  bathe  its  shores,  it  must  reflect 
carefully  and  have  clear  views  on  Pacific  questions."1 
Equally  interesting  is  the  "  Indo-Japanese  Associa- 
tion," whose  activities  appear  somewhat  peculiar  in 
view  of  the  political  alliance  between  Japan  and  the 
British  Empire.  One  of  the  first  articles  of  its  consti- 
tution (from  Count  Okuma's  pen,  by  the  way)  reads: 
' '  All  men  were  born  equal.  The  Asiatics  have  the  same 
claim  to  be  called  men  as  the  Europeans  themselves. 
It  is  therefore  quite  unreasonable  that  the  latter 
should  have  any  right  to  predominate  over  the  former."5 
No  mention  is  made  anywhere  in  the  document  of 
India's  political  connection  with  England.  In  fact, 
Count  Okuma,  in  the  autumn  of  1907,  had  this  to  say 
regarding  India:  "Being  oppressed  by  the  Europeans, 
the  300,000,000  people  of  India  are  looking  for  Japanese 
protection.  They  have  commenced  to  boycott  Euro- 
pean merchandise.  If,  therefore,  the  Japanese  let  the 
chance  slip  by  and  do  not  go  to  India,  the  Indians  will 

'Quoted  by  Scie-Ton-Fa,  "La  Chine  et  le  Japon,"  Revue  Polttique 
tnternationale,  September,  1915. 
»  The  Literary  Digest,  March  5,  1910,  p5l29. 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  33 

be  disappointed.  From  old  times,  India  has  been  a 
land  of  treasure.  Alexander  the  Great  obtained  there 
treasure  sufficient  to  load  a  hundred  camels,  and 
Mahmoud  and  Attila  also  obtained  riches  from  India. 
Why  should  not  the  Japanese  stretch  out  their  hands 
toward  that  country,  now  that  the  people  are  looking 
to  the  Japanese?  The  Japanese  ought  to  go  to  India, 
the  South  Ocean,  and  other  parts  of  the  world."1 

In  1910,  Putnam  Weale,  a  competent  English  student 
of  Oriental  affairs,  asserted:  "It  can  no  longer  be 
doubted  that  a  very  deliberate  policy  is  certainly  being 
quietly  and  cleverly  pursued.  Despite  all  denials,  it 
is  a  fact  that  Japan  has  already  a  great  hold  in 
the  schools  and  in  the  vernacular  newspapers  all  over 
eastern  Asia,  and  that  the  gospel  of  'Asia  for  the 
Asiatics'  is  being  steadily  preached  not  only  by  her 
schoolmasters  and  her  editors,  but  by  her  merchants 
and  peddlers,  and  every  other  man  who  travels."2 

Exactly  how  much  these  Japanese  propagandist  ef- 
forts accomplished  is  impossible  to  say.  Certain  it  is, 
however,  that  during  the  years  just  previous  to  the 
Great  War  the  white  colonies  in  the  Far  East  were 
afflicted  with  considerable  native  unrest.  In  French 
Indo-China,  for  example,  revolutionary  movements 
during  the  year  1908  necessitated  reinforcing  the 
French  garrison  by  nearly  10,000  men,  and  though  the 
disturbances  were  sternly* repressed,  fresh  conspiracies 


1  The  Literary  Digest,  January  18,  1908,  p.  81. 

2B.  L.  Putnam  Weale,  "The  Conflict  of  Color,"  pp.  145-6  (New 
York,  1910). 


34    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

were  discovered  in  1911  and  1913.  Much  sedition  and 
some  sharp  fighting  also  took  place  in  the  Dutch  Indies, 
while  in  the  Philippines  the  independence  movement 
continued  to  gain  ground. 

What  the  growing  self -consciousness  of  the  Far  East 
portended  for  the  white  man's  ultimate  status  in  those 
regions  was  indicated  by  an  English  publicist,  J.  D. 
Whelpley,  who  wrote,  shortly  after  the  outbreak  of  the 
European  War:  "With  the  aid  of  Western  ideas  the 
Far  East  is  fast  attaining  a  solidarity  impossible  under 
purely  Oriental  methods.  The  smug  satisfaction  ex- 
pressed in  the  West  at  what  is  called  the  '  moderniza- 
tion '  of  the  East  shows  lack  of  wisdom  or  an  in- 
effective grasp  of  the  meaning  of  comparatively  recent 
events  in  Japan,  China,  eastern  Siberia,  and  even  in 
the  Philippines.  In  years  past  the  solidarity  of  the 
Far  East  was  largely  in  point  of  view,  while  in  other 
matters  the  powerful  nations  of  the  West  played  the 
game  according  to  their  own  rules.  To-day  the  soli- 
darity of  mental  outlook  still  maintains,  while  in  addi- 
tion there  is  rapidly  coming  about  a  solidarity  of 
political  and  material  interests  which  in  time  will  re- 
duce Western  participation  in  Far  Eastern  affairs  to 
that  of  a  comparatively  unimportant  factor.  It  might 
truly  be  said  that  this  point  is  already  reached,  and 
that  it  only  needs  an  application  of  the  test  to  prove 
to  the  world  that  the  Far  East  would  resent  Western 
interference  as  an  intolerable  impertinence."1 

1 J.  D.  Whelpley,  "East  and  West:  A  New  Line  of  Cleavage, 

nightly  Review,  May,  1915. 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  35 

The  scope  of  Japan's  aspirations,  together  with  dif- 
ferences of  outlook  between  various  sections  of  Japanese 
public  opinion  as  to  the  rate  of  progress  feasible  for 
Japanese  expansion,  account  for  Japan's  differing  atti- 
tudes toward  the  white  Powers.  Officially,  the  key- 
stone of  Japan's  foreign  policy  since  the  beginning  of 
the  present  century  has  been  the  alliance  with  England, 
first  negotiated  in  1902  and  renewed  with  extensive 
modifications  in  1911.  The  1902  alliance  was  univer- 
sally popular  in  Japan.  It  was  directed  specifically 
against  Russia  and  represented  the  common  appre- 
hensions of  both  the  contracting  parties.  By  1911, 
however,  the  situation  had  radically  altered.  Japan's 
aspirations  in  the  Far  East,  particularly  as  regards 
China,  were  arousing  wide-spread  uneasiness  in  many 
quarters,  and  the  English  communities  in  the  Far  East 
generally  condemned  the  new  alliance  as  a  gross  blunder 
of  British  diplomacy.  In  Japan  also  there  was  con- 
siderable protest.  The  official  organs,  to  be  sure, 
stressed  the  necessity  of  friendship  with  the  Mistress 
of  the  Seas  for  an  island  empire  like  Japan,  but  op- 
position circles  pointed  to  England's  practical  refusal 
to  be  drawn  into  a  war  with  the  United  States  under 
any  circumstances  which  constituted  the  outstanding 
feature  of  the  new  treaty  and  declared  that  Japan  was 
giving  much  and  receiving  nothing  in  return. 

The  growing  divergence  between  Japanese  and  Eng- 
views  regarding  China  increased  anti-English  feel- 
and  in  1912  the  semi-official  Japan  Magazine  as- 
roundly  that  the  general  feeling  in  Japan  was 


36    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

that  the  alliance  was  a  detriment  rather  than  a  benefit, 
going  on  to  forecast  a  possible  alignment  with  Russia 
and  Germany,  and  remarking  of  the  latter:  "Germany's 
healthy  imperialism  and  scientific  development  would 
have  a  wholesome  effect  upon  our  nation  and  progress, 
while  the  German  habit  of  perseverance  and  frugality 
is  just  what  we  need.  German  wealth  and  industiy  are 
gradually  creeping  upward  to  that  of  Great  Britain 
and  America,  and  the  efficiency  of  the  German  army 
and  navy  is  a  model  for  the  world.  Her  lease  of  the 
territory  of  Kiaochow  Bay  brings  her  into  contact  with 
us,  and  her  ambition  to  exploit  the  coal-mines  of  Shan- 
tung lends  her  a  community  of  interest  with  us.  It  is 
not  too  much  to  say  that  German  interests  in  China 
are  greater  than  those  of  any  other  European  Power. 
If  the  alliance  with  England  should  ever  be  abrogated, 
we  might  be  very  glad  to  shake  hands  with  Germany."  * 
The  outbreak  of  the  European  War  gave  Japan  a 
golden  opportunity  (of  which  she  was  not  slow  to  take 
advantage)  to  eliminate  one  of  the  white  Powers  from 
the  Far  East.  The  German  stronghold  of  Kiaochow 
was  promptly  reduced,  while  Germany's  possessions 
in  the  Pacific  Ocean  north  of  the  equator,  the  Caroline, 
Pelew,  Marianne,  and  Marshall  island-groups,  were 
likewise  occupied  by  Japanese  forces.  Here  Japan 
stopped  and  politely  declined  all  proposals  to  send 
armies  to  Europe  or  western  Asia.  Her  sphere  was  the 
Far  East;  her  real  objectives  were  the  reduction  of 
white  influence  there  and  the  riveting  of  her  control 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  July  6,  1912,  p.  9. 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  37 

over  China.  Japanese  comment  was  perfectly  can- 
did on  these  matters.  As  the  semi-official  Japanese 
Colonial  Journal  put  it  in  the  autumn  of  1914:  "To 
protect  Chinese  territory  Japan  is  ready  to  fight  no 
matter  what  nation.  Not  only  will  Japan  try  to  erase 
the  ambitions  of  Russia  and  Germany;  it  will  also 
do  its  best  to  prevent  England  and  the  United  States 
from  touching  the  Chinese  cake.  The  solution  of  the 
Chinese  problem  is  of  great  importance  for  Japan,  and 
Great  Britain  has  little  to  do  with  it."1 

Equally  frank  were  Japanese  warnings  to  the  English 
ally  not  to  oppose  Japan's  progress  in  China.    English 
criticism  of  the  series  of  ultimatums  by  which  Japan 
forced  reluctant  China  to  do  her  bidding  roused  angry 
admonitions  like  the  following  from  the  Tokio  Universe 
in  April,   1915:    "Hostile  English  opinion  seems  to 
want  to  oppose  Japanese  demands  in  China.    The 
English  forget  that  Japan  has,  by  her  alliance,  rendered 
them  signal  services  against  Russia  in  1905  and  in  the 
present  war  by  assuring  security  in  their  colonies  of  the 
Pacific  and  the  Far  East.    If  Japan  allied  herself  with 
England,  it  was  with  the  object  of  establishing  Japanese 
jponderance  in  China  and  against  the  encroachments 
Russia.    To-day  the  English  seem  to  be  neglecting 
ieir  obligations  toward  Japan  by  not  supporting  her 
Luse.    Let  England  beware !    Japan  will  tolerate  no 
ivering;   she  is  quite  rfcady  to  abandon  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  alliance  and  turn  to  Russia — a  Power  with 
whom  she  can  agree  perfectly  regarding  Far  Eastern 

1  Quoted  by  Scie-Ton-Fa,  supra. 


38    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF    COLOR 

interests.  In  the  future,  even,  she  is  ready  to  draw 
closer  to  Germany.  The  English  colonies  will  then  be 
in  great  peril."1 

As  to  the  imminence  of  a  Russo-Japanese  understand- 
ing, the  journal  just  quoted  proved  a  true  prophet,  for 
a  year  later,  in  July,  1916,  the  Japanese  and  Russian 
Governments  signed  a  diplomatic  instrument  which 
amounted  practically  to  an  alliance.  By  this  docu- 
ment Russia  recognized  Japan's  paramountcy  over  the 
bulk  of  China,  while  Japan  recognized  Russia's  special 
interests  in  China's  Western  dependencies,  Mongolia 
and  Turkestan.  Japan  had  thus  eliminated  another 
of  the  white  Powers  from  the  Far  East,  since  Russia 
renounced  those  ambitions  to  dominate  China  proper 
which  had  provoked  the  war  of  1904. 

Meanwhile  the  press  campaign  against  England  con- 
tinued. A  typical  sample  is  this  editorial  from  the 
Tokio  Yamato:  "  Great  Britain  never  wished  at  heart 
to  become  Japan's  ally.  She  did  not  wish  to  enter  into 
such  intimate  relations  with  us,  for  she  privately  re- 
garded us  as  an  upstart  nation  radically  different  from 
us  in  blood  and  religion.  It  was  simply  the  force  of 
circumstances  which  compelled  her  to  enter  into  an 
alliance  with  us.  It  is  the  height  of  conceit  on  our 
part  to  think  that  England  really  cared  for  our  friend- 
ship, for  she  never  did.  It  was  the  Russian  menace 
to  India  and  Persia  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  German 
ascendancy  on  the  other,  which  compelled  her  to  clasp 
our  hands."2 

1  Quoted  by  Scie-Ton-Fa,  supra. 

*  The  Literary  Digest,  February  12,  1916,  pp.  369-70. 


i.  \j£ 

E 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  39 

At  the  same  time  many  good  things  were  being  said 
about  Germany.  At  no  time  during  the  war  was  any 
real  hostility  to  the  Germans  apparent  in  Japan.  Ger- 
many was  of  course  expelled  from  her  Far  Eastern  foot- 
holds in  smart;  workmanlike  fashion,  but  the  fighting 
before  Kiaochow  was  conducted  without  a  trace  of 
hatred^  the  German  prisoners  were  treated  as  honored 
captives,  and  German  civilians  in  Japan  suffered  no 
molestation.  Japanese  writers  were  very  frank  in  stat- 
ing that,  once  Germany  resigned  herself  to  exclusion 
from  the  Far  East  and  acquiesced  in  Japanese  pre- 
dominance in  China,  no  reason  existed  why  Japan 
and  Germany  should  not  be  good  friends.  Unofficial 
diplomatic  exchanges  certainly  took  place  between  the 
two  governments  during  the  war,  and  no  rancor  for 
the  past  appears  to  exist  on  either  side  to-day. 

The  year  1917  brought  three  momentous  modifica- 
tions into  the  world-situation:  the  entrance  of  the 
United  States  and  China  into  the  Great  War  and  the 
Russian  Revolution.  The  first  two  were  intensely  dis- 
tasteful to  Japan.  The  transformation  of  virtually  un- 
armed America  into  a  first-class  fighting  power  reacted 
portentously  upon  the  Far  East,  while  China's  adhesion 
to  the  Grand  Alliance  (bitterly  opposed  in  Tokio) 
rescued  her  from  diplomatic  isolation  and  gave  her 

tential  friends.    The  Russian  Revolution  was  also 

source  of  perplexity  to  Jokio.  In  1916,  as  we  have 
,  Japan  had  arrived  at  a  thorough  understanding 
ith  the  Czarist  regime.  The  new  Russian  Govem- 

.ent  was  an  unknown  quantity,  acting  quite  differently 

m  the  old. 


40    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

Russia's  collapse  into  Bolshevist  anarchy,  however, 
presently  opened  up  new  vistas.  Not  merely  northern 
Manchuria,  but  also  the  huge  expanse  of  Siberia,  an 
almost  empty  world  of  vast  potential  riches,  lay 
temptingly  exposed.  At  once  the  powerful  imperialist 
elements  in  Japanese  political  life  began  clamoring 
for  "forward"  action.  An  opportunity  for  such  action 
was  soon  vouchsafed  by  the  Allied  determination  to 
send  a  composite  force  to  Siberia  to  checkmate  the 
machinations  of  the  Russian  Bolsheviki,  now  hostile 
to  che  Allies  and  playing  into  the  hands  of  Ger- 
many. The  imperialist  party  at  Tokio  took  the  bit 
in  its  teeth,  and,  in  flagrant  disregard  of  the  inter- 
Allied  agreement,  poured  a  great  army  into  Siberia, 
occupying  the  whole  country  as  far  west  as  Lake 
Baikal.  This  was  in  the  spring  of  1918.  The  Allies, 
then  in  their  supreme  death-grapple  with  the  Germans, 
dared  not  even  protest,  but  in  the  autumn,  when  the 
battle-tide  had  turned  in  Europe,  Japan  was  called  to 
account,  the  United  States  taking  the  lead  in  the 
matter.  A  furious  debate  ensued  at  Tokio  between  the 
imperialist  and  moderate  parties,  the  hotter  jingoes 
urging  defiance  of  the  United  States  even  at  the  risk 
of  war.  Then,  suddenly,  came  the  news  that  Germany 
was  cracking,  and  the  moderates  had  their  way.  The 
Japanese  armies  in  Siberia  were  reduced,  albeit  they 
still  remained  the  most  powerful  military  factor  in  the 
situation. 

Germany's  sudden  collapse  and  the  unexpectedly 
quick  ending  of  the  war  was  a  blow  to  Japanese  hopes 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  41 

and  plans  in  more  ways  than  one.  Despite  official 
felicitations,  the  nation  could  hardly  disguise  its 
chagrin.  For  Japan  the  war  had  been  an  unmixed 
benefit.  It  had  automatically  made  her  mistress  of 
the  Far  East  and  had  amazingly  enriched  her  eco- 
nomic life.  Every  succeeding  month  of  hostilities  had 
seen  the  white  world  grow  weaker  and  had  conversely 
increased  Japanese  power.  Japan  had  counted  on  at 
least  one  more  year  of  war.  Small  wonder  that  the 
sudden  passing  of  this  halcyon  time  provoked  disap- 
pointment and  regret. 

The  above  outline  of  Japanese  foreign  policy  re- 
veals beneath  all  its  surface  mutations  a  fundamental 
continuity.  Whatever  may  be  its  ultimate  goals, 
Japanese  foreign  policy  has  one  minimum  objective: 
Japan  as  hegemon  of  a  Far  East  in  which  white  influ- 
ence shall  have  been  reduced  to  a  vanishing  quantity. 
That  is  the  bald  truth  of  the  matter — and  no  white 
man  has  any  reason  for  getting  indignant  about  it. 
Granted  that  Japanese  aims  endanger  white  vested 
interests  in  the  Far  East.  Granted  that  this  involves 
rivalry  and  perhaps  war.  That  is  no  reason  for  strik- 
ing a  moral  attitude  and  inveighing  against  Japanese 
1 '  wickedness, ' '  as  many  people  are  to-day  doing.  These 
ty  racial  tides  flow  from  the  most  elemental  of 
vital  urges :  self-expansion  and  self-preservation.  Both 
outward  thrust  of  expanding  life  and  counter-thrust 
of  threatened  life  are  equally  normal  phenomena* 
To  condemn  the  former  as  "criminal"  and  the  latter  as 
"selfish"  is  either  silly  or  hypocritical  and  tends  to 


42    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

envenom  with  unnecessary  rancor  what  objective  fair- 
ness might  keep  a  candid  struggle,  inevitable  yet  alle- 
viated by  mutual  comprehension  and  respect.  This 
is  no  mere  plea  for  "sportsmanship ";  it  is  a  very  prac- 
tical matter.  There  are  critical  times  ahead;  times 
in  which  intense  race-pressures  will  engender  high 
tensions  and  perhaps  wars.  If  men  will  keep  open 
minds  and  will  eschew  the  temptation  to  regard  those 
opposing  their  desires  to  defend  or  possess  respectively 
as  impious  fiends,  the  struggles  will  lose  half  their 
bitterness,  and  the  wars  (if  wars  there  must  be)  will 
be  shorn  of  half  their  ferocity. 

The  unexpected  ending  of  the  European  War  was, 
as  we  have  seen,  a  blow  to  Japanese  calculations. 
Nevertheless,  the  skiH  of  her  diplomats  at  the  ensuing 
Versailles  Conference  enabled  Japan  to  harvest  most 
of  her  war  gains.  Japan's  territorial  acquisitions  in 
China  were  definitely  written  into  the  peace  treaty, 
despite  China's  sullen  veto,  and  Japan's  preponderance 
in  Chinese  affairs  was  tacitly  acknowledged.  Japan 
also  took  advantage  of  the  occasion  to  pose  as  the  cham- 
pion of  the  colored  races  by  urging  the  formal  promulga- 
tion of  "racial  equality"  as  part  of  the  peace  settlement, 
especially  as  regards  immigration.  Of  course  the  Jap- 
anese diplomats  had  no  serious  expectation  of  their 
demands  being  acceded  to;  in  fact,  they  might  have 
been  rather  embarrassed  if  they  had  succeeded,  in 
view  of  Japan's  own  stringent  laws  against  immigra- 
tion and  alien  landholding.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a 
politic  move,  useful  for  future  propagandist  purposes, 


YELLOW   MAN'S    LAND  43 

and  it  advertised  Japan  broadcast  as  the  standard- 
bearer  of  the  colored  cause. 

The  notable  progress  that  Japan  has  made  toward 
the  mastery  of  the  Far  East  is  written  plainly  upon  the 
map,  which  strikingly  portrays  the  broadening  terri- 
torial base  of  Japanese  power  effected  in  the  past 
twenty-five  years.  Japan  now  owns  the  whole  island 
chain  masking  the  eastern  sea  frontage  of  Asia,  from 
the  tip  of  Kamchatka  to  the  Philippines,  while  her  ac- 
quisition of  Germany's  Oceanican  islands  north  of  the 
equator  gives  her  important  strategic  outposts  in  mid- 
Pacific.  Her  bridge-heads  on  the  Asiatic  continent 
are  also  strong  and  well  located.  From  the  Korean 
peninsula  (now  an  integral  part  of  Japan)  she  firmly 
grasps  the  vast  Chinese  dependency  of  Manchuria, 
while  just  south  of  Manchuria  across  the  narrow  waters 
of  the  Pechili  strait  lies  the  rich  Chinese  province  of 
Shantung,  become  a  Japanese  sphere  of  influence  as 
a  result  of  the  late  war.  Thus  Japan  holds  China's 
capital,  Peking,  as  in  the  jaws  of  a  vice  and  can  apply 
military  pressure  whenever  she  so  desires.  In  southern 
China  lies  another  Japanese  sphere  of  influence,  the 
province  of  Fukien  opposite  the  Japanese  island  of 
Formosa.  Lastly,  all  over  China  runs  a  veritable 
network  of  Japanese  concessions  like  the  recently  ac- 
quired control  of  the  great  iron  deposits  near  Hankow, 
far  up  the  Yangtse  River  in  the  heart  of  China. 

Whether  this  Japanese  imperium  over  China  main- 
tains itself  or  not,  one  thing  seems  certain:  future 
white  expansion  in  the  Far  East  has  become  impossi-  Jy 


44    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

ble.  Any  such  attempt  would  instantly  weld  together 
Japanese  imperialism  and  Chinese  nationalism  in  a 
"sacred  union"  whose  result  would  probably  be  at 
the  very  least  the  prompt  expulsion  of  the  white  man 
from  every  foothold  in  eastern  Asia. 

That  is  what  will  probably  come  anyway  as  soon  as 
Japan  and  China,  impelled  by  overcrowding  and  con- 
scious of  their  united  potentialities,  shall  have  arrived 
at  a  genuine  understanding.  Since  population-pressure 
seems  to  be  the  basic  factor  in  the  future  course  of 
Far  Eastern  affairs,  it  would  be  well  to  survey  possible 
outlets  for  surplus  population  within  the  Far  East 
itself,  in  order  to  determine  how  much  of  this  race- 
expansion  can  be  satisfied  at  home,  thereby  diminish- 
ing, or  at  least  postponing,  acute  pressure  upon  the 
political  and  ethnic  frontiers  of  the  white  world. 

To  begin  with,  the  population  of  Japan  (approxi- 
mately 60,000,000)  is  increasing  at  the  rate  of  about 
800,000  per  year.  China  has  no  modern  vital  statistics, 
but  the  annual  increase  of  her  400,000,000  population, 
at  the  Japanese  rate,  would  be  6,000,000.  Now  the 
settled  parts  of  both  Japan  and  China  may  be  con- 
sidered as  fully  populated  so  far  as  agriculture  is  con- 
cerned, further  extensive  increases  of  population  being 
dependent  upon  the  rise  of  machine  industry.  Both 
countries  have,  however,  thinly  settled  areas  within 
their  present  political  frontiers.  Japan's  northern 
island  of  Hokkaido  (Yezo)  has  a  great  amount  of  good 
agricultural  land  as  yet  almost  unoccupied,  some  of 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  45 

her  other  island  possessions  offer  minor  outlets,  while 
Korea  and  Manchuria  afford  extensive  colonizing  possi- 
bilities albeit  Chinese  and  Korean  competition  pre- 
clude a  Japanese  colonization  on  the  scale  which  the 
size  and  natural  wealth  of  these  regions  would  at  first 
sight  seem  to  indicate.  China  has  even  more  extensive 
colonizable  areas.  Both  Mongolia  and  Chinese  Turke- 
stan, though  largely  desert,  contain  within  their  vast 
areas  enough  fertile  land  to  support  many  millions  of 
Chinese  peasants  as  soon  as  modern  roads  and  rail- 
ways are  built.  The  Chinese  colonization  of  Man- 
churia is  also  proceeding  apace,  and  will  continue 
despite  anything  Japan  may  do  to  keep  it  down. 
Lastly,  the  cold  but  enormous  plateau  of  Tibet  offers 
considerable  possibilities. 

Allowing  for  all  this,  however,  it  cannot  be  said  that 
either  China  or  Japan  possess  within  their  present 
political  frontiers  territories  likely  to  absorb  those  pro- 
digious accretions  of  population  which  seem  destined 
to  occur  within  the  next  couple  of  generations.  From 
the  resultant  congestion  two  avenues  of  escape  will 
naturally  present  themselves:  settlement  of  other 
portions  of  the  Far  East  to-day  under  white  political 
control,  but  inhabited  by  colored  populations;  and  pres- 
sure into  accessible  areas  not  merely  under  white  politi- 
cal control,  but  also  containing  white  populations.  It 
is  obvious  that  these  are.  two  radically  distinct  issues, 
for  while  a  white  nation  might  not  unalterably  oppose 
Mongolian  immigration  into  its  colored  dependencies, 


46    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

it  would  almost  certainly  fight  to  the  limit  rather  than 
witness  the  racial  swamping  of  lands  settled  by  its  own 
flesh  and  blood. 

Considering  the  former  issue,  then,  it  would  appear 
that  virtually  all  the  peninsulas  and  archipelagoes 
lying  between  China  and  Australia  offer  attractive 
fields  for  yellow,  particularly  Chinese,  race-expansion. 
Ethnically  they  are  all  colored  men's  lands;  politically 
they  are  all,  save  Siam,  under  white  control;  Britain, 
France,  Holland,  and  the  United  States  being  the  titu- 
lar owners  of  these  extensive  territories.  So  far  as 
the  native  races  are  concerned,  none  of  them  seem  to 
possess  the  vitality  and  economic  efficiency  needed  to 
maintain  themselves  against  unrestricted  Chinese  im- 
migration. Whether  in  the  British  Straits  Settlements 
and  North  Borneo,  French  Indo-China,  the  Dutch 
Indies,  the  American  Philippines,  or  independent  Siam, 
the  Chinaman,  so  far  as  he  has  been  allowed,  has  dis- 
played his  practical  superiority,  and  in  places  where, 
like  the  Straits  Settlements,  he  has  been  allowed  a 
free  hand,  he  has  virtually  supplanted  the  native  stock, 
reducing  the  latter  to  an  impotent  and  vanishing  mi- 
nority. The  chief  barriers  to  Chinese  race-expansion 
in  these  regions  are  legal  hindrances  or  prohibitions  of 
immigration,  and  of  course  such  barriers  are  in  their 
essence  artificial  and  liable  to  removal  under  any  shift 
of  circumstances.  Many  observers  predict  that  most 
of  these  lands  will  ultimately  become  Chinese.  Says 
Alleyne  Ireland,  a  recognized  authority  on  these  re- 
gions :  "  There  is  every  reason  to  suppose  that,  through- 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  47 

out  the  tropics,  possibly  excepting  India,  the  China- 
man, even  though  he  should  continue  to  emigrate  in  no 
greater  force  than  hitherto,  will  gradually  supersede 
all  the  native  races." J  Certainly,  if  this  be  true,  China 
has  here  a  vast  outlet  for  her  surplus  population.  It 
has  been  estimated  that  the  undeveloped  portions  of 
the  Dutch  Indies  alone  are  capable  of  supporting  100,- 
000,000  people  living  on  the  frugal  Chinese  plane. 
Their  present  population  is  8,000,000  semi-savages. 

China's  possibilities  of  race-expansion  in  the  colored 
regions  of  the  Far  East  are  thus  excellent.  The  same 
cannot  be  said,  however,  for  Japan.  The  Japanese, 
bred  in  a  distinctively  temperate,  island  environment, 
have  not  the  Chinese  adaptability  to  climatic  variation. 
The  Japanese,  like  the  white  man,  does  not  thrive  in 
tropic  heat,  nor  does  he  possess  the  white  man's  ability 
to  resist  sub- Arctic  cold.  Formosa  is  not  in  the  real 
tropics,  yet  Japanese  colonists  -have  not  done  well 
there.  On  the  other  hand,  even  the  far-from-Arctic 
winters  of  Hokkaido  (part  of  the  Japanese  archipelago) 
>  seem  too  chilly  for  the  Japanese  taste. 

E Japan  thus  does  not  have  the  same  vital  interest  as 
ina  in  the  Asiatic  tropics.    Undoubtedly  they  would 
Japan  be  valuable  colonies  of  exploitation,  just  as 
they  to-day  are  thus  valuable  for  white  nations.    But 
they  could  never  furnish  outlets  for  Japan's   excess 
population,  and  even  commercially  Japan  would  be 
exposed  to  increasing  Chinese  competition,  since  the 

1  Alieyne  Ireland,  "Commercial  Aspects  of  the  Yellow  Peril,"  North 

American  Review,  September,  1900. 


48    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Chinaman  excels  the  Japanese  in  trade  as  well  as  in 
migrant  colonization.  Japanese  lack  of  climatic  adapta- 
bility is  also  the  reason  why  Japan's  present  military 
excursion  in  eastern  Siberia,  even  if  it  should  develop 
into  permanent  occupation,  would  yield  no  adequate 
solution  of  Japan's  population  problem.  For  the  China- 
man, Siberia  would  do  very  well.  He  would  breed 
amazingly  there  and  would  fill  up  the  whole  country 
in  a  remarkably  short  space  of  time.  But  the  Japanese 
peasant,  so  averse  to  the  winters  of  Hokkaido,  would 
find  the  sub-Arctic  rigors  of  Siberia  intolerable. 

Thus,  for  Japanese  migration,  neither  the  empty 
spaces  of  northern  or  southern  Asia  will  do.  The  nat> 
ural  outlets  lie  outside  Asia  in  the  United  States,  Aus- 
tralasia, and  the  temperate  parts  of  Latin  America. 
But  all  these  outlets  are  rigorously  barred  by  the  white 
man,  who  has  marked  them  for  his  own  race-heritage, 
and  nothing  but  force  will  break  those  barriers  down. 

There  lies  a  danger,  not  merely  to  the  peace  of  the 
Far  East,  but  to  the  peace  of  the  world.  Fired  by  a 
fervent  patriotism;  resolved  to  make  their  country 
a  leader  among  the  nations;  the  Japanese  writhe  at 
the  constriction  of  their  present  race-bounds.  Placed 
on  the  flank  of  the  Chinese  giant  whose  portentous 
growth  she  can  accurately  forecast,  Japan  sees  herself 
condemned  to  ultimate  renunciation  of  her  grandiose 
ambitions  unless  she  can  somehow  broaden  the  racial 
as  well  as  the  political  basis  of  her  power.  In  short: 
Japan  must  find  lands  where  Japanese  can  breed  by 
the  tens  of  millions  if  she  is  not  to  be  automatically 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  49 

overshadowed  in  course  of  time,  even  assuming  that 
she  does  not  suffocate  or  blow  up  from  congestion  before 
that  time  arrives.  This  is  the  secret  of  her  aggressive 
foreign  policy,  her  chronic  imperialism,  her  extrava- 
gant dreams  of  conquest  and  "world-dominion." 

The  longing  to  hack  a  path  to  greatness  by  the 
samurai  sword  lurks  ever  in  the  back  of  Japanese 
minds.  The  library  of  Nippon 's  chauvinist  literature  is 
large  and  increasing.  A  good  example  of  the  earlier  pro- 
ductions is  Satori  Kato's  brochure  entitled  "Mastery  of 
the  Pacific/7  published  in  1909.  Herein  the  author  an- 
nounces confidently :  "In  the  event  of  war  Japan  could, 
as  if  aided  by  a  magician's  wand,  overrun  the  Pacific 
with  fleets  manned  by  men  who  have  made  Nelson 
their  model  and  transported  to  the  armadas  of  the  Far 
East  the  spirit  that  was  victorious  at  Trafalgar. 
Whether  Japan  avows  it  or  not,  her  persistent  aim  is 
to  gain  the  mastery  of  the  Pacific.  Although  peace 
seems  to  prevail  over  the  world  at  present,  no  one  can 
tell  how  soon  the  nations  may  be  engaged  in  war.  It 
does  not  need  the  English  alliance  to  secure  success 
for  Japan.  That  alliance  may  be  dissolved  at  any 
loment,  but  Japan  will  suffer  no  defeat.  Her  victory 
be  won  by  her  men,  not  by  armor-plates — things 
by  comparison."  l 

The  late  war  has  of  course  greatly  stimulated  these 
licose  emotions.  Viewing  their  own  increased  power 

id  the  debilitation  of  the  white  world,  Japanese  jin- 
glimpse  prospects  of  glorious  fishing  in  troubled 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  November  13,  1909. 


50    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

waters.  The  "world-dominion"  note  is  stressed  more 
often  than  of  yore.  For  instance,  in  the  summer  of 
1919  the  Tokio  Hochi,  Count  Okuma's  organ,  proph- 
esied exultantly:  "That  age  in  which  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  alliance  was  the  pivot  and  American-Japa- 
nese co-operation  an  essential  factor  of  Japanese  di- 
plomacy is  gone.  In  future  we  must  not  look  eastward 
for  friendship  but  westward.  Let  the  Bolsheviki  of 
Russia  be  put  down  and  the  more  peaceful  party 
established  in  power.  In  them  Japan  will  find  a  strong 
ally.  By  marching  then  westward  to  the  Balkans, 
to  Germany,  to  France,  and  Italy,  the  greater  part  of 
the  world  may  be  brought  under  our  sway.  The 
tyranny  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  at  the  Peace  Conference 
is  such  that  it  has  angered  both  gods  and  men.  Some 
may  abjectly  follow  them  in  consideration  of  their 
petty  interests,  but  things  will  ultimately  settle  down 
as  has  just  been  indicated/' 1 

Still  more  striking  are  the  following  citations  from 
a  Japanese  imperialist  pronouncement  written  in  the 
autumn  of  1916: 

"Fifty  millions  of  our  race  wherewith  to  conquer  and 
possess  the  earth !  It  is  indeed  a  glorious  problem !  .  .  . 
To  begin  with,  we  now  have  China;  China  is  our  steed ! 
Far  shall  we  ride  upon  her !  Even  as  Rome  rode  La- 
tium  to  conquer  Italy,  and  Italy  to  conquer  the  Medi- 
terranean; even  as  Napoleon  rode  Italy  and  the 
Rhenish  States  to  conquer  Germany,  and  Germany  to 
conquer  Europe;  even  as  England  to-day  rides  her 

1  The  Literary  ffigesif  July  5,  1919,,p.  31. 


YELLOAV    MAN'S    LAND  51 

colonies  and  her  so-called  '  allies '  to  conquer  her  robust 
rival,  Germany — even  so  shall  we  ride  China.  So 
becomes  our  50;000;000  race  500;000;000  strong;  so 
grow  our  paltry  hundreds  of  millions  of  gold  into 
billions ! 

"How  well  have  done  our  people!  How  well  have 
our  statesmen  led  them !  No  mistakes !  There  must 
be  none  now.  In  1895  we  conquered  China — Russia, 
Germany,  and  France  stole  from  us  the  booty.  How 
has  our  strength  grown  since  then — and  still  it  grows ! 
In  ten  years  we  punished  and  retook  our  own  from 
Russia;  in  twenty  years  we  squared  and  retook  from 
Germany;  with  France  there  is  no  need  for  haste. 
She  has  already  realized  why  we  withheld  the  troops 
which  alone  might  have  driven  the  invader  from  her 
soil !  Her  fingers  are  clutching  more  tightly  around 
her  Oriental  booty;  yet  she  knows  it  is  ours  for  the 
taking.  But  there  is  no  need  of  haste:  the  world 
condemns  the  paltry  thief;  only  the  glorious  conqueror 
wins  the  plaudits  and  approval  of  mankind. 

"We  are  now  well  astride  of  our  steed,  China;  but 
the  steed  has  long  roamed  wild  and  is  run  down:  it 
needs  grooming,  more  grain,  more  training.  Further, 
our  saddle  and  bridle  are  as  yet  mere  makeshifts: 
would  steed  and  trappings  stand  the  strain  of  war? 
And  what  would  that  strain  be  ? 

"As  for  America — that  fatuous  booby  with  much 
money  and  much  sentiment,  but  no  cohesion,  no  brains 
of  government ;  stood  she  alone  we  should  not  need  our 
China  steed.  Well  did  my  friend  speak  the  other  day 


52    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

when  he  called  her  people  a  race  of  thieves  with  the 
hearts  of  rabbits.  America,  to  any  warrior  race,  is 
not  as  a  foe,  but  as  an  immense  melon,  ripe  for  the 
cutting.  But  there  are  other  warrior  races— England, 
Germany — would  they  look  on  and  let  us  slice  and  eat 
our  fill?  Would  they? 

"But,  using  China  as  our  steed,  should  our  first 
goal  be  the  land?  India?  Or  the  Pacific,  the  sea 
that  must  be  our  very  own,  even  as  the  Atlantic  is  now 
England's  ?  The  land  is  tempting  and  easy,  but  withal 
dangerous.  Did  we  begin  there,  the  coarse  white 
races  would  too  soon  awaken,  and  combine,  and  for- 
ever immure  us  within  our  long  since  grown  intolerable 
bounds.  It  must,  therefore,  be  the  sea;  but  the  sea 
means  the  Western  Americas  and  all  the  islands  be- 
tween; and  with  those  must  soon  come  Australia, 
India.  And  then  the  battling  for  the  balance  of  world- 
power,  for  the  rest  of  North  America.  Once  that  is 
ours,  we  own  and  control  the  whole — a  dominion  worthy 
of  our  race ! 

"North  America  alone  will  support  a  billion  people; 
that  billion  shall  be  Japanese  with  their  slaves.  Not 
arid  Asia,  nor  worn-out  Europe  (which,  with  its 
peculiar  and  quaint  relics  and  customs  should  in  the 
interests  of  history  and  culture,  be  in  any  case  pre- 
served), nor  yet  tropical  Africa,  is  fit  for  our  people. 
But  North  America,  that  continent  so  succulently 
green,  fresh,  and  unsullied — except  for  the  few  chatter- 
ing, mongrel  Yankees — should  have  been  ours  by  right 


YELLOW    MAN'S    LAND  53 

of  discovery:   it  shall  be  ours  by  the  higher,  nobler 
right  of  conquest.'7 1 

This  apostle  of  Japanese  world-dominion  then  goes 
on  to  discuss  in  detail  how  his  programme  can  best  be 
attained.  It  should  be  remembered  that  at  the  time 
he  wrote  America  was  still  an  unarmed  nation,  ap- 
parently ridden  by  pacifism.  Such  imperialist  ex- 
travagances as  the  above  do  not  represent  the  whole 
of  Japan.  But  they  do  represent  a  powerful  element 
in  Japan,  against  which  the  white  world  should  be 
forewarned. 

1  The  Military  Historian  and  Economist,  January,  1917,  pp.  43-46. 


CHAPTER  III 
BROWN  MAN'S  LAND 

BROWN  MAN'S  LAND  is  the  Near  and  Middle  East. 
The  brown  world  stretches  in  an  immense  belt  clear 
across  southern  Asia  and  northern  Africa,  from  the 
Pacific  to  the  Atlantic  Oceans.  The  numbers  of 
brown  and  yellow  men  are  not  markedly  unequal 
(450,000,000  browns  as  against  500,000,000  yellows), 
but  in  most  other  respects  the  two  worlds  are  sharply 
contrasted.  In  the  first  place,  while  the  yellow  world 
is  a  fairly  compact  geographical  block,  the  brown 
world  sprawls  half-way  round  the  globe,  and  is  not 
only  much  greater  in  size,  but  also  infinitely  more 
varied  in  natural  features. 

This  geographical  diversity  is  reflected  both  in  its 
history  and  in  the  character  of  its  inhabitants.  Unlike 
the  secluded  yellow  world,  the  brown  world  is  nearly 
everywhere  exposed  to  foreign  influences  and  has  under- 
gone an  infinite  series  of  evolutionary  modifications. 
Racially  it  has  been  a  vast  melting-pot,  or  series  of 
melting-pots,  wherein  conquest  and  migration  have 
continually  poured  new  heterogeneous  elements,  pro- 
ducing the  most  diverse  racial  amalgamations.  In  fact, 
there  is  to-day  no  generalized  brown  type-norm  as  there 
are  generalized  yellow  or  white  type-norms,  but  rather 
a  series  of  types  clearly  distinguished  from  one  another. 
Some  of  these  types,  like  the  Persians  and  Ottoman 

54 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  55 

Turks,  are  largely  white;  others,  like  the  southern  In- 
dians and  Yemenite  Arabs,  are  largely  black;  while 
still  others,  like  the  Himalayan  and  Central  Asian  peo- 
ples, have  much  yellow  blood.  Again,  there  is  no 
generalized  brown  culture  like  those  possessed  by  yel- 
lows and  whites.  The  great  spiritual  bond  is  Islam, 
yet  in  India,  the  chief  seat  of  brown  population,  Islam 
is  professed  by  only  one-fifth  of  the  inhabitants. 

Nevertheless,  there  is  a  fundamental  comity  be- 
tween the  brown  peoples.  This  comity  is  subtle  and 
intangible  in  character,  yet  it  exists,  and  under  cer- 
tain circumstances  it  is  capable  of  momentous  mani- 
festations. Its  salient  feature  is  the  instinctive  recogni- 
tion by  all  Near  and  Middle  Eastern  peoples  that  they 
are  fellow  Asiatics,  however  bitter  may  be  their  inter- 
necine feuds.  This  instinctive  Asiatic  feeling  has  been 
noted  by  historians  for  more  than  two  thousand  years, 
and  it  is  just  as  true  to-day  as  in  the  past.  Of  course 
it  comes  out  most  strongly  in  face  of  the  non-Asiatic— 
which  in  practice  has  always  meant  the  white  man. 
The  action  and  reaction  of  the  brown  and  white  worlds 
has,  indeed,  been  a  constant  historic  factor,  the  r61es 
of  hammer  and  anvil  being  continually  reversed  through 
the  ages.  For  the  last  four  centuries  the  white  world 
has,  in  the  main,  been  the  dynamic  factor.  Certainly, 
during  the  last  hundred  years  the  white  world  has  dis- 
played an  unprecedentedly  aggressive  vigor,  the  brown 
world  playing  an  almost  passive  r61e. 

Here  again  is  seen  a  difference  between  browns  and 
yellows.  The  yeEow  world  did  not  feel  the  full  tide  of 


56    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF    COLOR 

white  aggression  till  the  middle  of  the  last  century, 
while  even  then  it  never  really  lost  its  political  inde- 
pendence and  soon  reacted  so  powerfully  that  its  polit- 
ical freedom  has  to-day  been  substantially  regained. 
The  brown  world,  on  the  other  hand,  felt  the  impact  of 
the  white  tide  much  earlier  and  was  politically  over- 
whelmed. The  so-called  "independence"  of  brown 
states  has  long  been  due  more  to  white  rivalries  than 
to  their  own  inherent  strength.  One  by  one  they  have 
been  swallowed  up  by  the  white  Powers.  In  1914  only 
three  (Turkey,  Persia,  and  Afghanistan)  survived,  and 
the  late  war  has  sent  them  the  way  of  the  rest.  "JHir- 
key  and  Persia  have  lost  their  independence,  however 
they  may  still  be  painted  on  the  map,  while  Afghan- 
istan has  been  compelled  to  recognize  white  supremacy 
as  never  before.  Thus  the  cycle  is  fulfilled,  and  white 
political  mastery  over  the  brown  world  is  complete. 

Political  triumphs,  however,  of  themselves  guarantee 
nothing,  and  the  permanence  of  the  present  order  of 
things  in  the  brown  world  appears  more  than  doubt- 
ful when  we  glance  beyond  the  map .  The  brown  world, 
like  the  yellow  world,  is  to-day  in  acute  reaction  against 
white  supremacy.  In  fact,  the  brown  reaction  began 
a  full  century  ago,  and  has  been  gathering  headway 
ever  since,  moved  thereto  both  by  its  own  inherent 
vitality  and  by  the  external  stimulus  of  white  aggres- 
sion. The  great  dynamic  of  this  brown  reaction  is  the 
Mohammedan  Revival.  But  before  analyzing  that 
movement  it  would  be  well  to  glance  at  the  human 
elements  involved. 


BROWN    MAN'S   LAND  57 

Four  salient  groupings  stand  out  among  the  brown 
peoples:  India,  Ira"n,  "Arabistdn,"  and  "Turkestan." 
The  last  two  words  are  used  in  a  special  sense  to  denote 
ethnic  and  cultural  aggregations  for  which  no  precise 
terms  have  hitherto  been  coined.  India  is  the  popula- 
tion-centre of  the  brown  world.  More  than  300,000,- 
000  souls  live  within  its  borders — two-thirds  of  all  the 
brown  men  on  earth.  India  has  not,  however,  been 
the  brown  world's  spiritual  or  cultural  dynamic,  those 
forces  coming  chiefly  from  the  brown  lands  to  the 
westward.  Iran  (the  Persian  plateau)  is  comparatively 
small  hi  area  and  has  less  than  15,000,000  inhabitants, 
but  its  influence  upon  the  brown  world  has  been  out 
of  all  proportion  to  its  size  and  population.  "Arabis- 
tan"  denotes  the  group  of  peoples,  Arab  in  blood  or 
Arabized  in  language  and  culture,  who  inhabit  the 
Arabian  peninsula  and  its  adjacent  annexes,  Syria  and 
Mesopotamia,  together  with  the  vast  band  of  North 
Africa  lying  between  the  Mediterranean  and  the 
Sahara  Desert.  The  total  number  of  these  Arabic 
peoples  is  40,000,000,  three-fourths  of  them  living  in 
North  Africa.  The  term  "Turkestdn"  covers  the 
group  of  kindred  peoples,  often  called  "Turanians," 
who  stretch  from  Constantinople  to  Central  Asia, 
including  the  Ottoman  Turks  of  Asia  Minor,  the  Tar- 
tars of  South  Russia  and  Transcaucasia,  and  the 
Central  Asian  Turkomans.  They  number  in  all 
about  25,000,000.  Such  are  the  four  outstanding 
race-factors  in  the  brown  world.  Let  us  now  examine 
that  spiritual  factor,  Islam,  from  which  the  brown 


58    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

renaissance  originally  proceeded,  and  on  which  most 
of  its  present  manifestations  are  based. 

Islam's  warlike  vigor  has  impressed  men's  minds 
ever  since  the  far-off  days  when  its  pristine  fervor  bore 
the  Fiery  Crescent  from  France  to  China.  But  with 
the  passing  cycles  this  fervor  waned,  and  a  century 
ago  Islam  seemed  plunged  in  the  stupor  of  senile  decay. 
The  life  appeared  to  have  gone  out  of  it,  leaving  naught 
but  the  dry  husks  of  empty  formalism  and  soulless  ritual. 
Yet  at  this  darkest  hour  a  voice  came  crying  from  out 
the  vast  Arabian  desert,  the  cradle  of  Islam,  calling 
the  Faithful  to  better  things.  This  puritan  reformer 
was  the  famous  Abd-el-Wahab,  and  his  followers, 
known  as  Wahabees,  soon  spread  over  the  length  and 
breadth  of  the  Mohammedan  world/ purging  Islam 
of  its  sloth  and  rekindling  the  fervor  of  -  olden  days. 
Thus  began  the  great  Mohammedan  Revival. 

That  revival,  like  all  truly  regenerative  movements, 
had  its  political  as  well  as  its  spiritual  side.  One  of  the 
first  things  which  struck  the  reformers  was  the  political 
weakness  of  the  Moslem  world  and  its  increasing  sub- 
jection to  the  Christian  West.  It  was  during  the  early 
decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  that  the  revival 
spread  through  Islam.  But  this  was  the  very  time 
when  Europe,  recovering  from  the  losses  of  the  Na- 
poleonic Wars,  began  its  unparalleled  aggressions  upon 
the  Moslem  East.  The  result  in  Islam  was  a  fusing  of 
religion  and  patriotism  into  a  "sacred  union"  for  the 
combined  spiritual  regeneration  and  political  emanci- 
pation of  the  Moslem  world. 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  59 

Of  course  Europe's  material  and  military  superiority 
were  then  so  great  that  speedy  success  was  recognized 
to  be  a  vain  hope.  Nevertheless,  with  true  Oriental 
patience,  the  reformers  were  content  to  work  for  dis- 
tant goals,  and  the  results  of  their  labors,  though 
hidden  from  most  Europeans,  was  soon  discernible  to 
a  few  keen-sighted  white  observers.  Half  a  century 
ago  the  learned  Orientalist  Palgrave  wrote  these  pro- 
phetic lines:  "Islam  is  even  now  an  enormous  power, 
full  of  self-sustaining  vitality,  with  a  surplus  for  ag- 
gression; and  a  struggle  with  its  combined  energies 
would  be  deadly  indeed.  .  .  .  The  Mohammedan 
peoples  of  the  East  have  awakened  to  the  manifold 
strength  and  skill  of  their  Western  Christian  rivals; 
and  this  awakening,  at  first  productive  of  respect  and 
fear,  not  unmixed  with  admiration,  now  wears  the 
type  of  antagonistic  dislike,  and  even  of  intelligent 
hate.  No  more  zealous  Moslems  are  to  be  found  in 
all  the  ranks  of  Islam  than  they  who  have  sojourned 
longest  in  Europe  and  acquired  the  most  intimate 
knowledge  of  its  sciences  and  ways.  .  .  .  Moham- 
medans are  keenly  alive  to  the  ever-shifting  uncer- 
tainties and  divisions  that  distract  the  Christianity 
of  to-day,  and  to  the  woful  instability  of  modern 
European  institutions.  From  their  own  point  of  view, 
Moslems  are  as  men  standing  on  a  secure  rock,  and  they 
contrast  the  quiet  fixity  Of  their  own  position  with  the 
unsettled  and  insecure  restlessness  of  all  else."  l 

*W.  G.  Palgrave,  "Essays  on  Eastern  Questions,"  pp.  127-131 
(London,  1872). 


60    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

This  stability  to  which  Palgrave  alludes  must  not 
be  confused  with  dead  rigidity.  Too  many  of  us  still 
think  of  the  Moslem  East  as  hopelessly  petrified.  But 
those  Westerners  best  acquainted  with  the  Islamic 
world  assert  that  nothing  could  be  farther  from  the 
truth;  emphasizing,  on  the  contrary,  Islam's  present 
plasticity  and  rapid  assimilation  of  Western  ideas  and 
methods.  "The  alleged  rigidity  of  Islam  is  a  Euro- 
pean myth,"1  says  Theodore  Morison,  late  principal  of 
the  Mohammedan  Anglo-Oriental  College  at  Aligarh, 
India;  and  another  Orientalist,  Marmaduke  Pickthall, 
writes:  "There  is  nothing  in  Islam,  any  more  than  in 
Christianity,  which  should  halt  progress.  The  fact 
is  that  Christianity  found,  some  time  ago,  a  modus  vi- 
vendi  with  modern  lif e,  while  Islam  has  not  yet  arrived 
thither.  But  this  process  is  even  now  being  worked 
out."2 

The  way  in  which  the  Mohammedan  world  has 
availed  itself  of  white  institutions  such  as  the  news- 
paper in  forging  its  new  solidarity  is  well  portrayed  by 
Bernard  Temple.  "It  all  comes  to  this,  then,"  he 
writes.  "World-politics,  as  viewed  by  Mohammedan- 
ism's political  leaders,  resolve  themselves  into  a  strug- 
gle— not  necessarily  a  bloody  struggle,  but  still  an  in- 
tense and  vital  struggle — for  place  and  power  between 
the  three  great  divisions  of  mankind.  The  Moslem 
mind  is  deeply  stirred  by  the  prospect.  Every  Mos- 

1  Theodore  Morison,  "Can  Islam  Be  Reformed?"  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury, October,  1908. 

2  Marmaduke  Pickthall,  "L'Angleterre  et  la  Turquie,"  Revue  Poli- 
tigue  Internationale,  January,  1914. 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  61 

lem  country  is  in  communication  with  every  other  Mos- 
lem country:  directly,  by  means  of  special  emissaries, 
pilgrims,  travellers,  traders,  and  postal  exchanges; 
indirectly,  by  means  of  Mohammedan  newspapers, 
books,  pamphlets,  leaflets,  and  periodicals.  I  have 
met  with  Cairo  newspapers  in  Bagdad,  Teheran,  and 
Peshawar;  Constantinople  newspapers  in  Basra  and 
Bombay;  Calcutta  newspapers  in  Mohammerah,  Ker- 
bela,  and  Port  Said."1 

These  European  judgments  are  confirmed  by  what 
Asiatics  say  themselves.  For  example,  a  Syrian  Chris- 
tian, Ameen  Rihani,  thus  characterizes  the  present 
strength  and  vitality  of  the  Moslem  world:  "A  nation 
of  250,000,000  souls,  more  than  one-half  under  Chris- 
tian rule,  struggling  to  shake  off  its  fetters;  to  consoli- 
date its  opposing  forces;  replenishing  itself  in  the 
south  and  in  the  east  from  the  inexhaustible  sources 
of  the  life  primitive;  assimilating  in  the  north,  but  not 
without  discrimination,  the  civilization  of  Europe;  a 
nation  with  a  glorious  past,  a  living  faith  and  language, 
an  inspired  Book,  an  undying  hope,  might  be  divided 
against  itself  by  European  diplomacy  but  can  never  be 
subjugated  by  European  arms.  .  .  .  What  Islam  is  los- 
ing on  the  borders  of  Europe  it  is  gaining  in  Africa  and 
Central  Asia  through  its  modern  propaganda,  which  is 
conducted  according  to  Christian  methods.  And  this 
is  one  of  the  grand  results  «f '  civilization  by  benevolent 
assimilation/  Europe  drills  the  Moslem  to  be  a  sol- 

1  Bernard  Temple,  "The  Place  of  Persia  in  World-Politics,"  Pro- 
ceedings of  the  Central  Asian  Society,  May,  1910. 


62    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

dier  who  will  ultimately  turn  his  weapons  against  her; 
and  she  sends  her  missionaries  to  awaken  in  the  ulema 
the  proselytizing  evil."1 

Typical  of  Mohammedan  literature  on  this  subject 
are  the  following  excerpts  from  a  book  published  at 
Cairo  in  1907  by  an  Egyptian,  Yahya  Siddyk,  signif- 
icantly entitled  "The  Awakening  of  the  Islamic  Peo- 
ples in  the  Fourteenth  Century  of  the  Hegira."2  The 
book  is  doubly  interesting  because  the  author  has  a 
thorough  Western  education,  holding  a  law  degree 
from  the  French  university  of  Toulouse,  and  is  a  judge 
on  the  Egyptian  bench.  Although  writing  as  far  back 
as  1907,  Yahya  Siddyk  clearly  foresaw  the  imminence 
of  the  European  War.-  "Behold,"  he  writes,  "these 
Great  Powers  ruining  themselves  in  terrifying  arma- 
ments; measuring  each  other's  strength  with  defiant 
glances;  menacing  each  other;  contracting  alliances 
which  continually  break  and  which  presage  those  ter- 
rible shocks  which  overturn  the  world  and  cover  it 
with  ruins,  fire,  and  blood !  The  future  is  God's,  and 
nothing  is  lasting  save  His  Will !" 

He  considers  the  white  world  degenerate.  "Does 
this  mean,"  he  asks,  "that  Europe,  our  'enlightened 
guide/  has  already  reached  the  summit  of  its  evolu- 
tion ?  Has  it  already  exhausted  its  vital  force  by  two 
or  three  centuries  of  hyper-exertion?  In  other  words: 
is  it  already  stricken  with  senility,  and  will  it  see 
itself  soon  obliged  to  yield  its  civilizing  r61e  to  other 

1  Ameen  Rihani,  "The  Crisis  of  Islam,"  Forum,  May,  1912. 

2  /.  e.t  the  twentieth  century  of  the  Christian  era. 


BROWN    MAN'S   LAND  63 

peoples  less  degenerate,  less  neurasthenic;  that  is  to 
say,  younger,  more  robust,  more  healthy,  than  itself? 
In  my  opinion,  the  present  marks  Europe's  apogee,  and 
its  immoderate  colonial  expansion  means,  not  strength, 
but  weakness.  Despite  the  aureole  of  so  much  gran- 
deur, power,  and  glory,  Europe  is  to-day  more  divided 
and  more  fragile  than  ever,  and  ill  conceals  its  malaise, 
its  sufferings,  and  its  anguish.  Its  destiny  is  inexorably 
working  out !  .  .  . 

"The  contact  of  Europe  on  the  East  has  caused 
us  both  much  good  and  much  evil:  good,  in  the 
material  and  intellectual  sense;  evil,  from  the  moral 
and  political  point  of  view.  Exhausted  by  long  strug- 
gles, enervated  by  a  brilliant  civilization,  the  Moslem 
peoples  inevitably  fell  into  a  malaise,  but  they  are  not 
stricken,  they  are  not  dead !  These  peoples,  conquered 
by  the  force  of  cannon,  have  not  in  the  least  lost  their 
unity,  even  under  the  oppressive  regimes  to  which  the 
Europeans  have  long  subjected  them.  ...  I  have  said 
that  the  European  contact  has  been  salutary  to  us 
from  both  the  material  and  the  intellectual  point  of 
view.  What  reforming  Moslem  Princes  wished  to 
impose  by  force  on  their  Moslem  subjects  is  to-day  real- 
ized a  hundredfold.  So  great  has  been  our  progress 
in  the  last  twenty-five  years  in  science,  letters,  and  art 
that  we  may  well  hope  to  be  in  all  these  things  the 
equals  of  Europeans  in  less  than  half  a  century.  .  .  . 

"  A  new  era  opens  for  us  with  the  fourteenth  century 
of  the  Hegira,  and  this  happy  century  will  mark  our 
renaissance  and  our  great  future !  A  new  breath  ani- 


64    THE    RISING   TIDE   OF   COLOR 

mates  the  Mohammedan  peoples  of  all  races;  all 
Moslems  are  penetrated  with  the  necessity  of  work 
and  instruction !  We  all  wish  to  travel,  do  business, 
tempt  fortune,  brave  dangers.  There  is  in  the  East, 
among  the  Mohammedans,  a  surprising  activity,  an 
animation,  unknown  twenty-five  years  ago.  .  .  .  There 
is  to-day  a  real  public  opinion  throughout  the  East.77 

The  author  concludes:  "Let  us  hold  firm,  each  for  all, 
and  let  us  hope,  hope,  hope !  We  are  fairly  launched 
on  the  path  of  progress:  let  us  profit  by  it!  It  is 
Europe's  very  tyranny  which  has  wrought  our  trans- 
formation! It  is  our  continued  contact  with  Europe 
which  favors  our  evolution  and  inevitably  hastens  our 
revival!  It  is  simply  History  repeating  itself;  the 
Will  of  God  fulfilling  itself  despite  ah1  opposition  and 
all  resistance.  .  .  .  (  Europe's  tutelage  over  Asiatics  is 
becoming  more  and  more  nominal — the  gates  of  Asia 
are  closing  against  the  European !  Surely  we  glimpse 
before  us  a  revolution  without  parallel  in  the  world's 
annals.  A  new  age  is  at  hand !"* 

If  this  be  indeed  the  present  spirit  of  Islam  it  is  a 
portentous  fact,  for  its  numerical  strength  is  very  great. 
The  total  number  of  Mohammedans  is  estimated  at 
from  200,000,000  to  250,000,000,  and  they  not  only 
predominate  throughout  the  brown  world  with  the 
exception  of  India,  but  they  also  count  10,000,000  ad- 
herents in  China  and  are  gaining  prodigiously  among 
the  blacks  of  Africa. 

1  Yahya  Siddyk,  "Le  R6veil  des  Peuples  Islamiques  au  Quatorzi&ne 
Stecle  de  l'H6gire"  (Cairo,  1907). 


BROWN    MAN'S   LAND  65 

The  proselyting  power  of  Islam  is  extraordinary, 
and  its  hold  upon  its  votaries  is  even  more  remarkable. 
Throughout  history  there  has  been  no  single  instance 
where  a  people,  once  become  Moslem,  has  ever  aban- 
doned the  faith.  Extirpated  they  may  have  been,  like 
the  Moors  of  Spain,  but  extirpation  is  not  apostasy. 
This  extreme  tenacity  of  Islam,  this  ability  to  keep  its 
hold,  once  it  has  got  a  footing,  under  all  circumstances 
short  of  downright  extirpation,  must  be  borne  in  mind 
when  considering  the  future  of  regions  where  Islam  is 
to-day  advancing. 

And,  save  in  eastern  Europe,  it  is  to-day  advancing 
along  all  its  far-flung  frontiers.  Its  most  signal  vic- 
tories are  being  won  among  the  negro  races  of  central 
Africa,  and  this  phase  will  be  discussed  in  the  next 
chapter,  but  elsewhere  the  same  conditions,  in  lesser 
degree,  prevail.  •  Every  Moslem  is  a  born  missionary 
and  instinctively  propagates  his  faith  among  his  non- 

[oslem  neighbors.    The  quality  of  this  missionary 

imper  has  been  well  analyzed  by  Meredith  Townsend. 
:A11  the  emotions  which  impel  a  Christian  to  prosely- 

se,"  he  writes,  "are  in  a  Mussulman  strengthened 
>y  all  the  motives  which  impel  a  political  leader  and 
all  the  motives  which  sway  a  recruiting  sergeant,  until 
proselytism  has  become  a  passion,  which,  whenever 

iccess  seems  practicable,  and  especially  success  on  a 
large  scale,  develops  in  the  quietest  Mussulman  a  fury 
)f  ardor  which  induces  him  to  break  down  every 
)bstacle,  his  own  strongest  prejudices  included,  rather 
stand  for  an  instant  in  the  neophyte's  way.  He 


66    THE    RISING   TIDE   OF   COLOR 

welcomes  him  as  a  son,  and  whatever  his  own  lineage, 
and  whether  the  convert  be  negro,  or  Chinaman,  or 
Indian,  or  even  European,  he  will  without  hesitation 
or  scruple  give  him  his  own  child  in  marriage,  and 
admit  him  fully,  frankly,  and  finally  into  the  most 
exclusive  circle  in  the  world."1  ; 

Such  is  the  vast  and  growing  body  of  Islam,  to-day 
seeking  to  weld  its  forces  into  a  higher  unity  for  the 
combined  objectives  of  spiritual  revival  and  political 
emancipation.  This  unitary  movement  is  known  as 
"Pan-Islamism."  Most  Western  observers  seem  to 
think  that  Pan-Islamism  centres  in  the  "Caliphate," 
and  European  writers  to-day  hopefully  discuss  whether 
the  Caliphate's  retention  by  the  discredited  Turkish 
Sultans,  its  transference  to  the  rulers  of  the  new 
Arab  Hedjaz  Kingdom,  or  its  total  suppression,  will 
best  clip  Islam's  wings. 

This,  however,  is  a  very  short-sighted  and  partial 
view.  The  Khalifa  or  "Caliph"  (to  use  the  European- 
ized  form),  the  Prophet's  representative  on  earth,  has 
played  an  important  historic  r61e,  and  the  institution 
is  still  venerated  in  Islam.  But  the  Pan-Islamic 
leaders  have  long  been  working  on  a  much  broader 
basis.  Pan-Islamism's  real  driving  power  lies,  not  in 
the  Caliphate,  but  in  institutions  like  the  "Hajj"  or 
pilgrimage  to  Mecca,  the  propaganda  of  the  "Habl- 
ul-Matin"  or  "Tie  of  True  Believers,"  and  the  great 
religious  fraternities.  The  Meccan  Hajj,  where  tens 
of  thousands  of  picked  zealots  gather  every  year 

1  Meredith  Townseod,  "  Aria  and  Europe,"  pp.  46-47. 


r 

: 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  67 

from  every  quarter  of  the  Moslem  world,  is  really  an 
annual  Pan-Islamic  congress,  where  all  the  interests 
of  the  faith  are  discussed  at  length,  and  where  plans 
are  elaborated  for  its  defense  and  propagation.  Sim- 
ilarly ubiquitous  is  the  Pan-Islamic  propaganda  of 
the  Habl-ul-Matin,  which  works  tirelessly  to  compose 
sectarian  differences  and  traditional  feuds.  Lastly, 
the  religious  brotherhoods  cover  the  Islamic  world 
with  a  network  of  far-flung  associations,  quickening  the 
zeal  of  their  myriad  members  and  co-ordinating  their 
energies  for  potential  action. 

The  greatest  of  these  brotherhoods  (though  there 
are  others  of  importance)  is  the  famous  Senussiyah, 
and  its  history  well  illustrates  Islam's  evolution  during 
the  past  hundred  years.  Its  founder,  Seyyid  Mahom- 
med  ben  Senussi,  was  born  in  Algeria  about  the  be- 
ginning of  the  nineteenth  century.  He  was  of  high 
Arab  lineage,  tracing  his  descent  from  Fatima,  the 
daughter  of  the  Prophet.  In  early  youth  he  went  to 
Arabia  and  there  came  under  the  influence  of  the  Waha- 
bee  movement.  In  middle  life  he  returned  to  Africa, 

tling  in  the  Sahara  Desert,  and  there  built  up  the 
fraternity  which  bears  his  name.  Before  his  death  the 
order  had  spread  to  all  parts  of  the  Mohammedan 
orld,  but  it  is  in  northern  Africa  that  it  has  attained 
its  peculiar  pre-eminence.  The  Senussi  Order  is  divided 
to  local  "Zawias"  or  lodges,  all  absolutely  dependent 

>n  the  Grand  Lodge,  headed  by  The  Master,  El 
Senussi.  The  Grand  Mastership  still  remains  in  the 
family,  a  grandson  of  the  founder  being  the  order's 


68    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

present  head.  The  Senussi  stronghold  is  an  oasis  in 
the  very  heart  of  the  Sahara.  Only  one  European  eye 
has  ever  seen  this  mysterious  spot.  Surrounded  by 
absolute  desert,  with  wells  many  leagues  apart  and  the 
routes  of  approach  known  only  to  experienced  Senussi 
guides,  every  on$  of  whom  would  suffer  a  thousand 
deaths  rather  than  betray  him,  El  Senussi,  The  Mas- 
ter, sits  serenely  apart,  sending  his  orders  throughout 
North  Africa. 

The  Sahara  itself  is  absolutely  under  Senussi  control, 
while  "Zawias"  abound  in  distant  regions  like  Morocco, 
Lake  Chad,  and  Somaliland.  These  local  Zawias  are 
more  than  mere  "lodges."  Their  spiritual  and  secular 
heads,  the  "Mokaddem"  or  priest  and  the  "Wekil" 
or  civil  governor,  have  discretionary  authority  not 
merely  over  the  Zawia  members,  but  also  over  the  com- 
munity at  large — at  least,  so  great  is  the  awe  inspired 
by  the  Senussi  throughout  North  Africa  that  a  word 
from  Wekil  or  Mokaddem  is  always  listened  to  and 
obeyed.  Thus,  beside  the  various  European  authori- 
ties, British,  French,  or  Italian  as  the  case  may  be, 
there  exists  an  occult  government  with  which  the  colo- 
nial authorities  are  careful  not  to  come  into  conflict. 

On  their  part,  the  Senussi  are  equally  careful  to 
avoid  a  downright  breach  with  the  European  Powers. 
Their  long-headed,  cautious  policy  is  truly  astonish- 
ing. For  more  than  half  a  century  the  order  has  been 
a  great  force,  yet  it  has  never  risked  the  supreme  ad- 
venture. In  all  the  numerous  fanatic  risings  against 
Europeans  which  have  occurred  in  various  parts  of 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  69 

Africa,  local  Senussi  have  undoubtedly  taken  part, 
but  the  order  has  never  officially  entered  the  lists. 

These  Fabian  tactics  as  regards  open  warfare  do  not 
mean  that  the  Senussi  are  idle.  Far  from  it.  On  the 
contrary,  they  are  ceaselessly  at  work  with  the  spiritual 
arms  of  teaching,  discipline,  and  conversion.  The 
Senussi  programme  is  the  welding,  first  of  Moslem 
Africa,  and  later  of  the  whole  Moslem  world,  into  the 
revived  "Imamat"  of  Islam's  early  days;  into  a  great 
theocracy,  embracing  all  true  believers — in  other 
words,  Pan-Islamism.  But  they  believe  that  the  po- 
litical liberation  of  Islam  from  Christian  domination 
must  be  preceded  by  a  profound  spiritual  regenera- 
tion, thereby  engendering  the  moral  forces  necessary 
both  for  the  war  of  liberation  and  for  the  fruitful  re- 
construction which  should  follow  thereafter.  This  is 
the  secret  of  the  order's  extraordinary  self-restraint. 
This  is  the  reason  why,  year  after  year,  and  decade 
after  decade,  the  Senussi  advance  slowly,  calmly,  coldly, 
gathering  great  latent  power  but  avoiding  the  tempta- 
tion to  expend  it  one  instant  before  the  proper  time. 
Meanwhile  they  are  covering  Africa  with  their  lodges 
and  schools,  disciplining  the  people  to  the  voice  of  their 
Mokaddems  and  Wekils — and  converting  millions  of 
pagan  negroes  to  the  faith  of  Islam. 

And  what  is  true  of  the  Senussi  holds  equally  for 
the  other  wise  leaders  who  guide  the  Pan-Islamic 
movement.  They  know  both  Europe's  strength  and 
their  own  weakness.  They  know  the  peril  of  premature 
action.  Feeling  that  time  is  on  their  side,  they  are 


70    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

content  to  await  the  hour  when  internal  regeneration 
and  external  pressure  shall  have  filled  to  overflowing 
the  cup  of  wrath.  This  is  why  Islam  has  offered  only 
local  resistance  to  the  unparalleled  white  aggressions  of 
the  last  twenty  years.  This  is  the  main  reason  why 
there  was  no  real  "Holy  War  "  in  1914.  But  the  ma- 
terials for  a  Holy  War  have  long  been  piling  high,  as  a 
retrospective  glance  will  show. 

Europe's  conquests  of  Africa  and  Central  Asia  toward 
the  close  of  the  last  centuiy,  and  the  subsequent  An- 
glo-French agreement  mutually  appropriating  Egypt 
and  Morocco,  evoked  murmurs  of  impotent  fury  from 
the  Moslem  world.  Under  such  circumstances  the 
Russo-Japanese  War  of  1904  sent  a  feverish  tremor 
throughout  Islam.  The  Japanese  might  be  idolaters, 
but  the  traditional  Moslem  loathing  of  idolaters  as 
beings  much  lower  than  Christians  and  Jews  (recog- 
nized by  Mohammed  as  "Peoples  of  The  Book")  was 
quite  effaced  by  the  burning  sense  of  subjugation  to  the 
Christian  yoke.  Accordingly,  the  Japanese  were  hailed 
as  heroes  throughout  Islam.  Here  we  see  again  that 
tendency  toward  an  understanding  between  Asiatic 
and  African  races  and  creeds  (in  other  words,  a  "Pan- 
Colored"  alliance  against  white  domination)  which  has 
been  so  patent  in  recent  years.  The  way  in  which 
Islamic  peoples  began  looking  to  Japan  is  revealed  by 
this  editorial  in  a  Persian  newspaper,  written  in  the 
year  1906:  "Desirous  of  becoming  as  powerful  as 
Japan  and  of  safeguarding  its  national  independence, 
Persia  should  make  common  cause  with  it.  An  alii- 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  71 

;\nce  becomes  necessary.  There  should  be  a  Japanese 
ambassador  at  Teheran.  Japanese  instructors  should 
be  chosen  to  reorganize  the  army.  Commercial  rela- 
tions should  also  be  developed."1  Indeed,  some  pious 
Modems  hoped  to  bring  this  heroic  people  within  the 
Islamic  fold.  Shortly  after  the  Russo-Japanese  War 
a  Chinese  Mohammedan  sheikh  wrote:  "If  Japan 
thinks  of  becoming  some  day  a  very  great  power  and 
making  Asia  the  dominator  of  the  other  continents,  it 
will  be  only  by  adopting  the  blessed  religion  of  Islam."2 
And  Al  Mowwayad,  an  Egyptian  Nationalist  jour- 
nal, remarked:  "England,  with  her  60,000,000  Indian 
Moslems,  dreads  this  conversion.  With  a  Mohamme- 
dan Japan,  Mussulman  policy  would  change  entirely."3 
As  a  matter  of  fact,  Mohammedan  missionaries  actu- 
ally went  to  Japan,  where  they  were  smilingly  received. 
Of  course  the  Japanese  had  not  the  faintest  intention 
of  turning  Moslems,  but  these  spontaneous  approaches 
from  the  brown  world  were  quite  in  line  with  their  am- 
bitious plans,  which,  as  the  reader  will  remember,  were 
just  then  taking  concrete  shape. 

However,  it  soon  became  plain  that  Japan  had  no 
present  intention  of  going  so  far  afield  as  Western  Asia, 
and  Islam  presently  had  to  mourn  fresh  losses  at  Chris- 
tian hands.  In  1911  came  Italy 's  barefaced  raid  on 
Turkey's  African  dependency  of  Tripoli.  So  bitter 
was  the  anger  in  all  Mohammedan  lands  at  this  un- 


1 F.  Farjanel,  "Le  Japon  et  1'Islam,"  Revue  du  Monde  Musutman, 
November,  1906. 
1  Farjanel,  supra.  •  Ibid. 


72    THE    RISING   TIDE   OF   COLOR 

provoked  aggression  that  many  European  observeis 
became  seriously  alarmed.  "Why  has  Italy  found 
'defenseless'  Tripoli  such  a  hornet's  nest?"  queried 
Gabriel  Hanotaux,  a  former  French  minister  of  for- 
eign affairs.  "It  is  because  she  has  to  do,  not  msrely 
with  Turkey,  but  with  Islam  as  well.  Italy  has  set 
the  ball  rolling — so  much  the  worse  for  her — and  for 
us  all."1  But  the  Tripoli  expedition  was  only  the  be- 
ginning of  the  Christian  assault,  for  next  year  came  the 
Balkan  War,  which  sheared  away  Turkey's  European 
holdings  to  the  walls  of  Constantinople  and  left  her 
crippled  and  discredited.  At  these  disasters  a  cry  of 
wrathful  anguish  swept  the  world  of  Islam  from  end 
to  end.  Here  is  how  a  leading  Indian  Moslem  inter- 
preted the  Balkan  conflict: 

"The  King  of  Greece  orders  a  new  crusade.  From 
the  London  Chancelleries  rise  calls  to  Christian  fanat- 
icism, and  Saint  Petersburg  already  speaks  of  the 
planting  of  the  cross  on  the  dome  of  Sant'  Sophia. 
To-day  they  speak  thus;  to-morrow  they  will  thus 
speak  of  Jerusalem  and  the  Mosque  of  Omar.  Broth- 
ers !  Be  ye  of  one  mind,  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
true  believer  to  hasten  beneath  the  Khalifa's  banner 
and  to  sacrifice  his  life  for  the  safety  of  the  faith."2 
And  another  Indian  Moslem  leader  thus  adjured  the 
British  authorities:  "I  appeal  to  the  present  govern- 
ment to  change  its  anti-Turkish  attitude  before  the 

Gabriel  Hanotaux,  "La  Crise  me*diterrane"enne  et  I'lslam,"  Revue 
Hebdomadaire,  April  13,  1912. 

'Arminius  Vamb£ry,  "Die  tiirkische  Katastrophe  und  die  Islam- 
welt,"  Deutsche  Revue,  July,  1913. 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  73 

fury  of  millions  of  Moslem  fellow  subjects  is  kindled 
to  a  blaze  and  brings  disaster."1 

Still  more  significant  were  the  appeals  made  by  the 
Indian  Moslems  to  their  Brahman  fellow  countrymen, 
the  traditionally  despised  "Idolaters."  These  appeals 
betokened  a  veritable  revolution  in  outlook,  as  can 
be  gauged  from  the  text  of  one  of  them,  significantly 
entitled  "The  Message  of  the  East."  "Spirit  of  the 
East,"  reads  this  noteworthy  document,  "arise  and 
repel  the  swelling  flood  of  Western  aggression !  Chil- 
dren of  Hindustan,  aid  us  with  your  wisdom,  culture, 
and  wealth;  lend  us  your  power,  the  birthright  and 
heritage  of  the  Hindu !  Let  the  Spirit  Powers  hidden 
in  the  Himalayan  mountain-peaks  arise.  Let  prayers 
to  the  god  of  battles  float  upward;  prayers  that  right 
may  triumph  over  might;  and  call  to  your  myriad 
gods  to  annihilate  the  armies  of  the  foe  !"2  In  China 
also  the  same  fraternizing  spirit  was  visible.  During 
the  Republican  Revolution  the  Chinese  Mohammedans, 
instead  of  holding  jealously  aloof,  co-operated  whole- 
heartedly with  their  Buddhist  and  Confucian  fellow 
citizens,  and  Doctor  Sun-Yat-Sen,  the  Republican 
leader,  announced  gratefully:  "The  Chinese  will  never 
forget  the  assistance  which  their  Moslem  compatriots 
have  rendered  in  the  interest  of  order  and  liberty."8 
The  Great  War  thus  found  Islam  deeply  stirred  against 

1  Shah  Mohammed  Naimatullah,  "Recent  Turkish  Events  and  Mos- 
lem India,"  Asiatic  Review,  October,  1913. 

2  Vambery,  supra. 

3Arminius  Vambery,  "An  Approach  Betweea  Moslems  and  Bud- 
dhists," Nineteenth  Century,  April,  1912. 


74    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

European  aggression,  keenly  conscious  of  its  own 
solidarity,  and  frankly  reaching  out  for  colored  aDies 
in  the  projected  struggle  against  white  domination. 

Under  these  circumstances  it  may  at  first  sight  ap- 
pear strange  that  no  general  Islamic  explosion  occurred 
when  Turkey  entered  the  lists  at  the  close  of  1914  and 
the  Sultan-Khalifa  issued  a  formal  summons  to  the 
Holy  War.  Of  course  this  summons  was  not  the  flat 
failure  which  Allied  reports  led  the  West  to  believe 
at  the  time.  As  a  matter  of  fact  there  was  trouble 
in  practically  every  Mohammedan  land  under  Allied 
control.  To  name  only  a  few  of  many  instances: 
Egypt  broke  into  a  tumult  smothered  only  by  over- 
whelming British  reinforcements,  Tripoli  burst  into 
a  flame  of  insurrection  that  drove  the  Italians  headlong 
to  the  coast,  Persia  was  prevented  from  joining  Tur- 
key only  by  prompt  Russian  intervention,  and  the 
Indian  Northwest  Frontier  was  the  scene  of  fighting 
that  required  the  presence  of  a  quarter  of  a  million 
Anglo-Indian  troops.  The  British  Government  has 
officially  admitted  that  during  1915  the  Allies'  Asiatic 
and  African  possessions  stood  within  a  hand's  breadth 
of  a  cataclysmic  insurrection. 

That  insurrection  would  certainly  have  taken  place 
if  Islam's  leaders  had  everywhere  spoken  the  fateful 
word.  But  the  word  was  not  spoken.  Instead,  in- 
fluential Moslems  outside  of  Turkey  generally  con- 
demned the  latter's  action  and  did  all  in  their  power 
to  calm  the  passions  of  the  fanatic  multitude.  The 
attitude  of  these  leaders  does  credit  to  their  discern- 


BROWN    MAN'S   LAND  75 

ment.  They  recognized  that  this  was  neither  the 
time  nor  the  occasion  for  a  decisive  struggle  with  the 
West.  They  were  not  yet  materially  prepared,  and 
they  had  not  perfected  their  understandings  either 
among  themselves  or  with  their  prospective  non- 
Moslem  allies.  Above  all,  the  moral  urge  was  lack- 
ing. They  knew  that  athwart  the  Khalifa's  writ 
was  stencilled  "Made  in  Germany."  They  knew 
that  the  "Young  Turk"  clique  which  had  engineered 
the  coup  was  made  up  of  Europeanized  renegades, 
many  of  them  not  even  nominal  Moslems,  but  atheistic 
Jews.  Far-sighted  Moslems  had  no  intention  of  pull- 
ing Germany's  chestnuts  out  of  the  fire,  nor  did  they 
wish  to  further  Prussian  schemes  of  world-dominion 
which  for  themselves  would  have  meant  a  mere  change 
of  masters.  Far  better  to  let  the  white  world  fight 
out  its  desperate  feud,  weaken  itself,  and  reveal  fully 
its  future  intentions.  Meanwhile  Islam  could  bide  its 
time,  grow  in  strength,  and  await  the  morrow. 

The  Versailles  Peace  Conference  was  just  such  a 
revelation  of  European  intentions  as  the  Pan-Islamic 
leaders  had  been  awaiting  in  order  to  perfect  their 
programmes  and  enlist  the  moral  solidarity  of  their 
peoples.  At  Versailles  the  European  Powers  showed 
unequivocally  that  they  had  no  intention  of  relaxing 
their  hold  upon  the  Near  and  Middle  East.  By  a 
number  of  secret  treaties  negotiated  during  the  war 
the  Ottoman  Empire  had  been  virtually  partitioned 
between  the  victorious  Allies,  and  these  secret  treaties 
formed  the  basis  of  the  Versailles  settlement.  Further- 


76    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

more,  Egypt  had  been  declared  a  British  protectorate 
at  the  very  beginning  of  the  European  struggle,  while 
the  Versailles  Conference  had  scarcely  adjourned  before 
England  announced  an  "  agreement "  with  Persia  which 
made  that  country  another  British  protectorate,  in 
fact,  if  not  in  name.  The  upshot  was,  as  already  stated, 
that  the  Near  and  Middle  East  were  subjected  to 
European  political  domination  as  never  before. 

But  there  was  another  side  to  the  shield.  During  the 
war  years  the  Allied  statesmen  had  officially  proclaimed 
times  without  number  that  the  war  was  being  fought 
to  establish  a  new  world-order  based'  on  such  princi- 
ples as  the  rights  of  small  nations  and  the  liberty  of  all 
peoples.  These  pronouncements  had  been  treasured 
and  memorized  throughout  the  East.  When,  there- 
fore, the  East  saw  a  peace  settlement  based,  not  upon 
these  high  professions,  but  upon  the  imperialistic 
secret  treaties,  it  was  fired  with  a  moral  indignation 
and  sense  of  outraged  justice  never  known  before.  A 
tide  of  impassioned  determination  began  rising  which 
has  already  set  the  entire  East  in  tumultuous  ferment, 
and  which  seems  merely  the  premonitory  ground-swell 
of  a  greater  storm.  Many  European  students  of 
Eastern  affairs  are  gravely  alarmed  at  the  prospect. 
Here,  for  example,  is  the  judgment  of  Leone  Caetani, 
Duke  of  Sermoneta,  an  Italian  authority  on  Oriental 
and  Mohammedan  questions.  Speaking  in  the  spring 
of  1919  on  the  war's  effect  on  the  East,  he  said:  "The 
convulsion  has  shaken  Islamitic  and  Oriental  civiliza- 
tion to  its  foundations.  The  entire  Oriental  world, 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  77 

from  China  to  the  Mediterranean,  is  in  ferment. 
Everywhere  the  hidden  fire  of  anti-European  hatred 
is  burning.  Riots  in  Morocco,  risings  in  Algiers,  dis- 
content in  Tripoli,  so-called  Nationalist  attempts  in 
Egypt,  Arabia,  and  Lybia,  are  all  different  manifesta- 
tions of  the  same  deep  sentiment,  and  have  as  their 
object  the  rebellion  of  the  Oriental  world  against  Euro- 
pean civilization."1 

The  state  of  affairs  in  Egypt  is  a  typical  illustration 
of  what  has  been  going  on  in  the  East  ever  since  the 
close  of  the  late  war.  Egypt  was  occupied  by  England 
in  1882,  and  British  rule  has  conferred  immense 
material  benefits,  raising  the  country  from  anarchic 
bankruptcy  to  ordered  prosperity.  Yet  British  rule 
was  never  really  popular,  and  as  the  years  passed  a 
"Nationalist"  movement  steadily  grew  in  strength, 
having  for  its  slogan  the  phrase  " Egypt  for  the  Egyp- 
tians," and  demanding  Britain's  complete  evacuation 
of  the  country.  This  demand  Great  Britain  refused 
even  to  consider.  Practically  all  Englishmen  are 
agreed  that  Egypt  with  the  Suez  Canal  is  the  vital  link 
between  the  eastern  and  western  halves  of  the  British 
Empire,  and  they  therefore  consider  the  permanent 
occupation  of  Egypt  an  absolute  necessity.  There  is 
thus  a  clear  deadlock  between  British  imperial  and 
Egyptian  national  convictions. 

Some  years  before  the  war  Egypt  became  so  unruly 
that  England  was  obliged  to  abandon  all  thoughts  of 
conciliation  and  initiated  a  regime  of  frank  repression 

1  Special  cable  to  the  New  York  Times,  dated  Rome,  May  28, 1919. 


78    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

enforced  by  Lord  Kitchener's  heavy  hand.  The  Eu- 
ropean War  and  Turkey's  adhesion  to  the  Teutonic 
Powers  caused  fresh  outbreaks  in  Egypt,  but  these 
were  quickly  repressed  and  England  took  advantage  of 
Ottoman  belligerency  to  abolish  the  fiction  of  Turkish 
overlordship  and  declare  Egypt  a  protectorate  of  the 
British  Empire. 

During  the  war  Egypt,  flooded  with  British  troops, 
remained  quiet,  but  the  end  of  the  war  gave  the 
signal  for  an  unparalleled  outburst  of  Nationalist 
activity.  Basing  their  claims  on  such  doctrines  as 
the  "rights  of  small  nations "  and  the  " self-deter- 
mination of  peoples,"  the  Nationalists  demanded  im- 
mediate independence  and  attempted  to  get  Egypt's 
case  before  the  Versailles  Peace  Conference.  In  de- 
fiance of  English  prohibitions,  they  even  held  a  popular 
plebiscite  which  upheld  their  claims.  When  the  Brit- 
ish authorities  answered  this  defiance  by  arresting  Na- 
tionalist leaders,  Egypt  flamed  into  rebellion  from  end 
to  end.  Everywhere  it  was  the  same  story.  Rail- 
ways and  telegraph  lines  were  systematically  cut. 
Trains  were  stalled  and  looted.  Isolated  British  offi- 
cers and  soldiers  were  murdered.  In  Cairo  alone, 
thousands  of  houses  were  sacked  by  the  mob.  Soon 
the  danger  was  rendered  more  acute  by  the  irruption 
out  of  the  desert  of  swarms  of  Bedouin  Arabs  bent  on 
plunder.  For  a  few  days  Egypt  trembled  on  the 
verge  of  anarchy,  and  the  British  Government  admitted 
in  Parliament  that  all  Egypt  was  in  a  state  of  in- 
surrection, 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  79 

The  British  authorities,  however;  met  the  crisis 
with  vigor  and  determination.  The  number  of  British 
troops  in  Egypt  was  very  large,  trusty  black  regiments 
were  hurried  up  from  the  Sudan,  and  the  well-dis- 
ciplined Egyptian  native  police  generally  obeyed 
orders.  The  result  was  that  after  several  weeks  of 
sharp  fighting,  lasting  through  the  spring  of  1919, 
Egypt  was  again  gotten  under  control.  The  outlook 
for  the  future  is,  however,  ominous  in  the  extreme. 
Order  is  indeed  restored,  but  only  the  presence  of 
massed  British  and  Sudanese  black  troops  guarantees 
that  order  will  be  maintained.  Even  under  the  present 
regime  of  stern  martial  law  hardly  a  month  passes 
without  fresh  rioting  and  heavy  loss  of  life.  Egypt 
appears  Nationalist  to  the  core,  its  spokesmen  swear 
they  will  accept  nothing  short  of  independence,  and  in 
the  long  run  Britain  will  realize  the  truth  of  that  pithy 
saying:  "You  can  do  everything  with  bayonets  except 
sit  on  them." 

India  is  likewise  in  a  state  of  profound  unrest.  The 
vast  peninsula  has  been  controlled  by  England  for  al- 
most two  centuries,  yet  here  again  the  last  two  decades 
have  witnessed  a  rapidly  increasing  movement  against 
British  rule.  This  movement  was  at  first  confined  to 
the  upper-class  Hindus,  the  great  Mohammedan  ele- 
ment preserving  its  traditional  loyalty  to  the  British 
"Raj,"  which  it  considered  a  protection  against  the 
Brahmanistic  Hindu  majority.  But,  as  already  seen, 
the  Pan-Islamic  leaven  presently  reached  the  Indian 
Moslems,  European  aggressions  on  Islam  stirred  their 


I 


80    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

resentment,  and  at  length  Moslem  and  Hindu  ad- 
journed their  ancient  feud  in  their  new  solidarity 
against  European  tutelage. 

The  Great  War  provoked  relatively  little  sedition 
in  India.  Groups  of  Hindu  extremists,  to  be  sure, 
hatched  terroristic  plots  and  welcomed  German  aid, 
but  India  as  a  whole  backed  England  and  helped  win 
the  war  with  both  money  and  men.  At  the  same  time, 
Indians  gave  notice  that  they  expected  their  loyalty  to 
be  rewarded,  and  at  the  close  of  the  war  various 
memorials  were  drawn  up  calling  for  drastic  modifica- 
tions of  the  existing  governmental  regime. 

India  is  to-day  governed  by  an  English  Civil  Ser- 
vice whose  fairness,  .honesty,  and  general  efficiency 
no  informed  person  can  seriously  impugn.  But  this 
no  longer  contents  Indian  aspirations.  India  desires 
not  merely  good  government  but  self-government. 
The  ultimate  goal  of  all  Indian  reformers  is  emancipa- 
tion from  European,  tutelage,  though  they  differ  among 
themselves  as  to  how  and  when  this  emancipation  is 
to  be  attained.  The  most  conservative  would  be  con- 
tent with  self-government  under  British  guidance,  the 
middle  group  asks  for  the  full  status  of  a  Dominion  of 
the  British  Empire  like  Canada  and  Australia,  while 
the  radicals  demand  complete  independence.  Even 
the  most  conservative  of  these  demands  would,  how- 
ever, involve  great  changes  of  system  and  a  diminu- 
tion of  British  control.  Such  demands  arouse  in  Eng- 
land mistrust  and  apprehension.  Englishmen  point 
out  that  India  is  not  a  nation  but  a  congeries  of  diverse 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  81 

peoples  spiritually  sundered  by  barriers  of  blood,  lan- 
guage, culture,  and  religion,  and  they  conclude  that, 
if  England's  control  were  really  relaxed,  India  would 
get  out  of  hand  and  drift  toward  anarchy.  As  for 
Indian  independence,  the  average  Englishman  cannot 
abide  the  thought,  holding  it  fatal  both  for  the  British 
Empire  and  for  India  itself.  The  result  has  been 
that  England  has  failed  to  meet  Indian  demands,  and 
this,  in  turn,  has  roused  an  acute  recrudescence  of  dis- 
satisfaction and  unrest.  The  British  Government  has 
countered  with  coercive  legislation  like  the  Rowlatt 
Acts  and  has  sternly  repressed  rioting  and  terrorism. 
British  authority  is  still  supreme  in  India.  But  it  is 
an  authority  resting  more  and  more  upon  force.  In 
fact,  some  Englishmen  have  long  considered  British 
rule  in  India,  despite  its  imposing  appearance,  a  de- 
cidedly fragile  affair.  Many  years  ago  Meredith 
Townsend,  who  certainly  knew  India  well,  wrote: 

"  The  English  think  they  will  rule  India  for  many  cen- 
turies or  forever.  I  do  not  think  so,  holding  rather  the 
older  belief  that  the  empire  which  came  in  a  day  will 
disappear  in  a  night.  .  .  .  Above  all  this  inconceivable 
mass  of  humanity,  governing  all,  protecting  all,  taxing 
all,  rises  what  we  call  here  'the  Empire/  a  corporation 
of  less  than  1,500  men,  partly  chosen  by  examination, 
partly  by  co-optation,  who  are  set  to  govern,  and  who 
protect  themselves  in  governing  by  finding  pay  for  a 
minute  white  garrison  of  65,000  men,  one-fifth  of  the 
Roman  legions — though  the  masses  to  be  controlled' 
are  double  the  subjects  of  Rome.  That  corporation 


I 


82    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

and  that  garrison  constitute  the  '  Indian  Empire.' 
There  is  nothing  else.  Banish  those  1,500  men  in 
black,  defeat  that  slender  garrison  in  red,  and  the 
empire  has  ended,  the  structure  disappears,  and  brown 
India  emerges,  unchanged  and  unchangeable.  To 
support  the  official  world  and  its  garrison — both, 
recollect,  smaller  than  those  of  Belgium— there  is, 
except  Indian  opinion,  absolutely  nothing.  Not  only 
is  there  no  white  race  in  India,  not  only  is  there  no 
white  colony,  but  there  is  no  white  man  who  purposes 
to  remain.  .  .  .  There  are  no  white  servants,  not  even 
grooms,  no  white  policemen,  no  white  postmen,  no 
white  anything.  If  the  brown  men  struck  for  a  week, 
the  ' Empire'  would  collapse  like  a  house  of  cards, 
and  every  ruling  man  would  be  a  starving  prisoner  in 
his  own  house.  He  could  not  move  or  feed  himself 
or  get  water." 1 

These  words  aptly  illustrate  the  truth  stated  at  the 
beginning  of  this  book  that  the  basic  factor  in  human 
affairs  is  not  politics  but  race,  and  that  the  most  im- 
posing political  phenomena,  of  themselves,  mean  noth- 
ing. And  that  is  just  the  fatal  weakness  underlying 
the  white  man's  present  political  domination  over  the 
brown  world.  Throughout  that  entire  world  there  is 
no  settled  white  population  save  in  the  French  colonies 
of  Algeria  and  Tunis  along  the  Mediterranean  sea- 
board, where  whites  form  perhaps  one-sixth  of  the 
total.  Elsewhere,  from  Morocco  to  the  Dutch  In- 
dies, there  is  in  the  racial  sense,  as  Townsend  well 

1  Townsend,  op.  tit.,  pp.  82-87. 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  83 

says,  "no  white  anything,"  and  if  white  rule  vanished 
to-morrow  it  would  not  leave  a  human  trace  behind. 
White  rule  is  therefore  purely  political,  based  on  pre- 
scription, prestige,  and  lack  of  effective  opposition. 
These  are  indeed  fragile  foundations.  Let  the  brown 
world  once  make  up  its  mind  that  the  white  man  must 
go,  and  he  will  go,  for  his  position  will  have  become 
simply  impossible.  It  is  not  solely  a  question  of  a 
"Holy  War";  mere  passive  resistance,  if  genuine  and 
general,  would  shake  white  rule  to  its  foundations. 
And  it  is  precisely  the  determination  to  get  rid  of  white 
rule  which  seems  to  be  spreading  like  wild-fire  over  the 
brown  world  to-day.  The  unrest  which  I  have  de- 
scribed in  Egypt  and  India  merely  typify  what  is  going 
on  in  Morocco,  Central  Asia,  the  Dutch  Indies,  the 
Philippines,  and  every  other  portion  of  the  brown 
world  whose  inhabitants  are  above  the  grade  of  savages. 
Another  factor  favoring  the  prospects  of  brown  eman- 
cipation is  the  lack  of  sustained  resistance  which  the 
white  world  would  probably  offer.  For  the  white 
world's  interests  in  these  regions,  though  great,  are 
not  fundamental;  that  is  to  say,  racial.  However 
grievously  they  might  suffer  politically  and  economi- 
cally, racially  the  white  peoples  would  lose  almost 
nothing.  Here  again  we  see  the  basic  importance  of 
race  in  human  affairs.  Contrast,  for  example,  Eng- 
land's attitude  toward  an  insurgent  India  with  France's 
attitude  toward  an  insurgent  North  Africa.  England, 
with  nothing  racial  at  stake,  would  hesitate  before  a 
reconquest  of  India  involving  millions  of  soldiers  and 


84    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

billions  of  treasure.  France,  on  the  other  hand,  with 
nearly  a  million  Europeans  in  her  North  African  posses- 
sions, half  of  these  full-blooded  Frenchmen,  might 
risk  her  last  franc  and  her  last  poilu  rather  than  see 
these  blood-brothers  slaughtered  and  enslaved. 

Assuming,  then,  what  to-day  seems  probable,  that 
white  political  control  over  the  brown  world  is  destined 
to  be  sensibly  curtailed  if  not  generally  eliminated, 
what  are  the  larger  racial  implications?  Above  all: 
will  the  browns  tend  to  impinge  on  white  race-areas 
as  the  yellows  show  signs  of  doing?  Probably,  no; 
at  least,  not  to  any  great  extent.  In  the  first  place, 
the  brown  world  has  within  its  present  confines  plenty 
of  room  for  potential  race-expansion.  Outside  India, 
Egypt,  Java,  and  a  few  lesser  spots,  there  is  scarcely 
a  brown  land  where  natural  improvements  such  as 
irrigation  would  not  open  up  extensive  settlement 
areas.  Mesopotamia  alone,  now  almost  uninhabited, 
might  support  a  vast  population,  while  Persia  could 
nourish  several  times  its  present  inhabitants. 

India,  to  be  sure,  is  almost  as  congested  as  China, 
and  the  spectre  of  the  Indian  coolie  has  lately  alarmed 
white  lands  like  Canada  and  South  Africa  almost  as 
much  as  the  Chinese  coolie  has  done.  But  an  indepen- 
dent India  would  fall  under  the  same  political  blight  as 
the  rest  of  the  brown  world — the  blight  of  internecine 
dissensions  and  wars.  The  brown  world's  present 
growing  solidarity  is  not  a  positive  but  a  negative 
phenomenon.  It  is  an  alliance,  against  a  common  foe, 
of  traditional  enemies  who,  once  the  bond  was  loosed 


BROWN    MAN'S    LAND  85 

in  victory,  would  inevitably  quarrel  among  themselves. 
Turk  would  fly  at  Arab  and  Turkoman  at  Persian,  as 
of  yore,  while  India  would  become  a  welter  of  contend- 
ing Hindus,  Moslems,  Sikhs,  Gurkhas,  and  heaven 
knows  what,  until  perchance  disciplined  anew  by  the 
pressure  of  a  Yellow  Peril.  In  Western  Asia  it  is  pos- 
sible that  the  spiritual  and  cultural  bonds  of  Islam 
might  temper  these  struggles,  but  Western  Asia  is 
precisely  that  part  of  the  brown  world  where  popula- 
tion-pressure is  absent.  India,  the  overpeopled  brown 
land,  would  undergo  such  a  cycle  of  strife  as  would 
devour  its  human  surplus  and  render  distant  aggres- 
sions impossible. 

A  potential  brown  menace  to  white  race-areas 
would,  indeed,  arise  in  case  of  a  brown-yellow  alliance 
against  the  white  peoples.  But  such  an  alliance  could 
occur  only  in  the  first  stages  of  a  pan-colored  war  of 
liberation  while  the  pressure  of  white  world-predomi- 
nance was  still  keenly  felt  and  before  the  divisive 
tendencies  within  the  brown  world  had  begun  to  take 
effect. 

Short  of  such  an  alliance  (wherein  the  browns 
would  abet  the  yellows'  aggressive,  racial  objectives  in 
return  for  yellow  support  of  their  own  essentially  de- 
fensive, political  ends),  the  brown  world's  emancipa- 
tion from  white  domination  would  apparently  not 
result  in  more  than  local  pressures  on  white  race- 
areas.  \  It  would,  however,  affect  another  sphere  of 
white  political  control— black  Africa.  The  emanci- 
pation of  brown,  Islamic  North  Africa  would  inevita- 


86    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

bly  send  a  sympathetic  thrill  through  every  portion  of 
the  Dark  Continent  and  would  stir  both  Mohammedan 
and  pagan  negroes  against  white  rule.  Islam  is,  in 
fact,  the  intimate  link  between  the  brown  and  black 
worlds.  But  this  subject,  with  its  momentous  implica- 
tions, will  be  discussed  in  the  next  chapter. 


CHAPTER  IV 
BLACK  MAN'S  LAND 

BLACK  MAN'S  LAND  is  primarily  Africa  south  of  the 
Sahara  Desert.  Here  dwell  the  bulk  of  all  the  150,- 
000,000  black  men  on  earth.  The  negro  and  negroid 
population  of  Africa  is  estimated  at  about  120,000,000— 
four-fifths  of  the  black  race-total.  Besides  its  African 
nucleus  the  black  race  has  two  distant  outposts:  the 
one  in  Australasia,  the  other  in  the  Americas.  The 
Eastern  blacks  are  found  mainly  in  the  archipelagoes 
lying  between  the  Asiatic  land-mass  and  Australia. 
They  are  the  Oriental  survivors  of  the  black  belt  which 
in  very  ancient  times  stretched  uninterruptedly  from 
Africa  across  southern  Asia  to  the  Pacific  Ocean.  The 
Asiatic  blacks  were  overwhelmed  by  other  races  ages 
ago,  and  only  a  few  wild  tribes  like  the  "Negritos" 
of  the  Philippines  and  the  jungle-dwellers  of  Indo- 
China  and  southern  India  survive  as  genuine  negroid 
stocks.  All  the  peoples  of  southern  Asia,  however, 
are  darkened  by  this  ancient  negroid  strain.  The  peo- 
ples of  south  India  are  notably  tinged  with  black  blood. 
As  for  the  pure  blacks  of  the  Australasian  archipelagoes, 
they  are  so  few  in  numbers  (about  3,000,000)  and  so 
low  in  type  that  they  are  of  negligible  importance. 
Quite  otherwise  are  the  blacks  of  the  Far  West.  In 
the  western  hemisphere  there  are'1  some  25,000,000 

87 


88    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

v>  .^ 

persons  of  more  or  less  mixed  black  blood,  brought 

thither  in  modern  times  as  slaves  by  the  white  con- 
querors of  the  New  World.  Still,  whatever  may  be 
the  destiny  of  these  transplanted  black  folk,  the  black 
man's  chief  significance,  from  the  world  aspect,  must 
remain  bound  up  with  the  great  nucleus  of  negro  popu- 
lation in  the  African  homeland. 

Black  Africa,  as  I  have  said,  lies  south  of  the  Sahara 
Desert.  Here  the  negro  has  dwelt  for  unnumbered 
ages.  The  key-note  of  black  history,  like  yellow  his- 
tory, has  been  isolation.  Cut  off  from  the  Mediter- 
ranean by  the  desert  which  he  had  no  means  of  crossing, 
and  bounded  elsewhere  by  oceans  which  he  had  no 
skill  in  navigating,  the  black  man  vegetated  in  savage 
obscurity,  his  habitat  being  well  named  the  "Dark 
Continent." 

Until  the  white  tide  began  breaking  on  its  sea- 
fronts  four  centuries  ago,  the  black  world's  only  ex- 
ternal stimuli  had  come  from  brown  men  landing  on 
its  eastern  coasts  or  ascending  the  valley  of  the  Nile. 
As  time  passed,  both  brown  and  white  pressures  be- 
came more  intense,  albeit  the  browns  long  led  in  the 
process  of  penetration.  Advancing  from  the  east 
and  trickling  across  the  desert  from  the  north,  Arab  or 
Arabized  adventurers  conquered  black  Africa  to  the 
equator;  and  this  political  subjugation  had  also  a 
racial  side,  for  the  conquerors  sowed  their  blood  freely 
and  set  a  brownish  stamp  on  many  regions.  As  for 
the  whites,  they  long  remained  mere  birds  of  passage. 
Half  a  century  ago  they  possessed  little  more  than 


BLACK    MAN'S    LAND  89 

trading-posts  along  the  littorals,  their  only  real  settle- 
ment lying  in  the  extreme  south. 

Then,  suddenly,  all  was  changed.  In  the  closing  dec- 
ades of  the  nineteenth  century,  Europe  turned  its  gaze 
full  upon  the  Dark  Continent,  and  within  a  generation 
Africa  was  partitioned  between  the  European  Powers. 
Negro  and  Arab  alike  fell  under  European  domination. 
Only  minute  Liberia  and  remote  Abyssinia  retained 
a  qualified  independence.  Furthermore,  white  settle- 
ment also  made  distinct  progress.  The  tropical  bulk 
of  Africa  defied  white  colonization,  but  the  continent's 
northern  and  southern  extremities  were  climatically 
"white  man's  country.' '  Accordingly,  there  are  to- 
day nearly  a  million  whites  settled  along  the  Algerian 
and  Tunisian  seaboard,  while  in  South  Africa,  Dutch 
and  British  blood  has  built  up  a  powerful  common- 
wealth containing  fully  one  and  one-half  million  white 
souls.  In  Africa,  unlike  Asia,  the  European  has  taken 
root,  and  has  thus  gained  at  least  local  tenures  of  a 
fundamental  nature. 

The  crux  of  the  African  problem  therefore  resolves 
If  into  the  question  whether  the  white  man,  through 

nsolidated  racial  holds  north  and  south,  will  be  able 
perpetuate  his  present  political  control  over  the  in- 
ediate  continental  mass  which  climate  debars 
from  populating.  This  is  a  matter  of  great  im- 
portance, for  Africa  is  a4  land  of  enormous  potential 
wealth,  the  natural  source  of  Europe's  tropical  raw 
materials  and  foodstuffs.  Whether  Europe  is  to 
retain  possession  depends,  in  the  last  analysis,  on  the 


90    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

character  of  the  inhabitants.  It  is,  then,  to  the  nature 
of  the  black  man  and  his  connection  with  the  brown 
world  that  we  must  direct  our  attention. 

From  the  first  glance  we  see  that,  in  the  negro,  we 
are  in  the  presence  of  a  being  differing  profoundly 
not  merely  from  the  white  man  but  also  from  those 
human  types  which  we  discovered  in  our  surveys  of 
the  brown  and  yellow  worlds.  The  black  man  is, 
indeed,  sharply  differentiated  from  the  other  branches 
of  mankind.  His  outstanding  quality  is  superabun- 
dant animal  vitality.  In  this  he  easily  surpasses  all 
other  races.  To  it  he  owes  his  intense  emotionalism. 
To  it,  again,  is  due  his  extreme  fecundity,  the  negro 
being  the  quickest  of  breeders.  This  abounding 
vitality  shows  in  many  other  ways,  such  as  the  negro's 
ability  to  survive  harsh  conditions  of  slavery  under 
which  other  races  have  soon  succumbed.  Lastly, 
in  ethnic  crossings,  the  negro  strikingly  displays  his 
prepotency,  for  black  blood,  once  entering  a  human 
stock,  seems  never  really  bred  out  again. 

Negro  fecundity  is  a  prime  factor  in  Africa's  future. 
In  the  savage  state  which  until  recently  prevailed, 
black  multiplication  was  kept  down  by  a  wide  variety 
of  checks.  Both  natural  and  social  causes  combined 
to  maintain  an  extremely  high  death-rate.  The 
negro's  political  ineptitude,  never  rising  above  the  tribal 
concept,  kept  black  Africa  a  mosaic  of  peoples,  war- 
ring savagely  among  themselves  and  widely  addicted 
to  cannibalism.  Then,  too,  the  native  religions  were 
usually  sanguinary,  demanding  a  prodigality  of  hu- 


BLACK    MAN'S    LAND  91 

man  sacrifices.  The  killings  ordained  by  negro  wizards 
and  witch-doctors  sometimes  attained  unbelievable 
proportions.  The  combined  result  of  all  this  was  a 
wastage  of  life  which  in  other  races  would  have  spelled 
a  declining  population.  Since  the  establishment  of 
white  political  control,  however,  these  checks  on  black 
fecundity  are  no  longer  operative.  The  white  rulers 
fight  filth  and  disease,  stop  tribal  wars,  and  stamp  out 
superstitious  abominations.  In  consequence,  popula- 
tion increases  by  leaps  and  bounds,  the  latent  possi- 
bilities being  shown  in  the  native  reservations  in  South 
Africa,  where  tribes  have  increased  as  much  as  ten- 
fold in  fifty  or  sixty  years.  It  is  therefore  practically 
certain  that  the  African  negroes  will  multiply  prodig- 
iously in  the  next  few  decades. 

Now,  what  will  be  the  attitude  of  these  augmenting 
black  masses  toward  white  political  dominion?  To 
that  momentous  query  no  certain  answer  can  be  made. 
One  thing,  however,  seems  clear:  the  black  world's  re- 
action to  white  ascendancy  will  be  markedly  different 
from  those  of  the  brown  and  yellow  worlds,  because  of 

te  profound  dissimilarities  between  negroes  and  men 
other  stocks.    To  begin  with,  the  black  peoples 
,ve  no  historic  pasts.    Never  having  evolved  civiliza- 
tions of  their  own,  they  are  practically  devoid  of  that 
accumulated  mass  of  beliefs,  thoughts,  and  experiences 
which  render  Asiatics  so  .impenetrable  and  so  hostile 
to  white  influences.    Although  the  white  race  displays 
sustained  constructive  power  to  an  unrivalled  degree, 
particularly  in  its  Nordic  branches,  the  brown  and  yel- 


I 


I 


92    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

I  low  peoples  have  contributed  greatly  to  the  civiliza- 
tion of  the  world  and  have  profoundly  influenced 
human  progress.  The  negro,  on  the  contrary,  has  con- 
tributed virtually  nothing.  Left  to  himself,  he  re- 
mained a  savage,  and  in  the  past  his  only  quickening 
has  been  where  brown  men  have  imposed  their  ideas 
and  altered  his  blood.  The  originating  powers  of  the 
European  and  the  Asiatic  are  not  in  him. 

This  lack  of  constructive  originality,  however, 
renders  the  negro  extremely  susceptible  to  external  in- 
fluences. The\|Asiatic,  conscious  of  his  past  and  his 
potentialities,  is  chary  of  foreign  innovations  and  re- 
fuses to  recognize  alien  superiority.  ^The  negro,  hav- 
ing no  past,  welcomes  novelty  and  tacitly  admits  that 
others  are  his  masters.  Both  brown  and  white  men 
have  been  so  accepted  in  Africa.  The  relatively  faint 
resistance  offered  by  the  naturally  brave  blacks  to 
white  and  brown  conquest,  the  ready  reception  of 
Christianity  and  Islam,  and  the  extraordinary  personal 
ascendancy  acquired  by  individual  Arabs  and  Euro- 
peans, all  indicate  a  willingness  to  accept  foreign  tute- 
lage which  in  the  Asiatic  is  wholly  absent. 

The  Arab  and  the  European  are,  in  fact,  rivals  for 
the  mastership  of  black  Africa.  The  Arab  had  a  long 
start,  but  the  European  suddenly  overtook  him  and 
brought  not  only  the  blacks  but  the  African  Arabs 
themselves  under  his  sway.  It  remains  to  be  seen 
whether  the  Arab,  allying  himself  with  the  blacks,  can 
oust  his  white  rival.  That  some  such  move  will  be  at- 
tempted, in  view  of  the  brown  world's  renaissance  in 


BLACK    MAN'S    LAND  93 

general  and  the  extraordinary  activity  of  the  Arab 
peoples  in  particular,  seems  a  foregone  conclusion. 
How  the  matter  will  work  out  depends  on  three  things : 
(1)  the  brown  man's  inherent  strength  in  Africa;  (2) 
the  possibilities  of  black  disaffection  against  white 
tutelage;  (3)  the  white  man's  strength  and  power  of 
resistance. 

The  seat  of  brown  power  in  Africa  is  of  course  the 
great  belt  of  territory  north  of  the  Sahara.  From 
Egypt  to  Morocco  the  inhabitants  are  Arabized  in  cul- 
ture and  Mohammedan  in  faith,  while  Arab  blood  has 
percolated  ever  since  the  Moslem  conquest  twelve 
centuries  ago.  In  the  eastern  half  of  this  zone  Arabiza- 
tion  has  been  complete,  and  Egypt,  Tripoli,  and  the 
Sudan  can  be  considered  as  unalterably  wedded  to  the 
brown  Islamic  world.  The  zone's  western  half,  how- 
ever, is  in  different  case.  The  majority  of  its  inhabi- 
tants are  Berbers,  an  ancient  stock  generally  considered  j 
white,  with  close  affinities  to  the  Latin  peoples  across 
the  Mediterranean.  As  usual,  blood  tells.  The  Ber- 
bers have  been  under  Arab  tutelage  for  over  a  thousand 
years,  yet  their  whole  manner  of  life  remains  distinct, 
they  have  largely  kept  their  language,  and  there  has 
been  comparatively  little  intermarriage.  Pure-blooded 
Arabs  abound,  but  they  are  still,  in  a  way,  foreigners. 
To-day  the  entire  region  is  under  white,  French,  rule. 
Algeria,  in  particular,  has  been  politically  French  for 
almost  a  hundred  years.  Europeans  have  come  in 
and  number  nearly  a  million  souls.  The  Arab  element 
shows  itself  sullen  and  refractory,  but  the  Berbers  dis- 


94    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF    COLOR 

play  much  less  aversion  to  French  rule,  which,  as  usual, 
is  considerate  of  native  susceptibilities.  The  French 
colonial  authorities  are  alive  to  the  Berber's  ethnic 
affinities  and  tactfully  seek  to  stimulate  his  dormant 
white  consciousness.  In  Algeria  intermarriage  be- 
tween Europeans  and  Berbers  has  actually  begun.  Of 
course  the  process  is  merely  in  its  first  stages.  Still, 
the  blood  is  there,  the  leaven  is  working,  and  in  time 
Northwest  Africa  may  return  to  the  white  world, 
where  it  was  in  Roman  days  and  where  it  racially  be- 
longs. In  the  anti-European  disturbances  now  taking 
place  in  Algeria  and  Tunis  it  is  safe  to  say  that  the  Arab 
element  is  making  most  of  the  trouble. 

It  is  Northeast  Africa,  then,  which  is  the  real  nucleus 
of  Arabism.  Here  Arabism  and  Islam  rule  unchecked, 
and  in  the  preceding  chapter  we  saw  how  the  Senussi 
Order  was  marshalling  the  fierce  nomads  of  the  desert. 
These  tribesmen  are  relatively  few  in  numbers,  but 
more  splendid  fighting  material  does  not  exist  in  the 
wide  world.  Furthermore,  the  Arab-negroid  peoples 
which  have  developed  along  the  southern  edge  of  the 
desert  so  blend  the  martial  qualities  of  both  strains 
that  they  frequently  display  an  almost  demoniacal 
fighting-power.  It  is  Pan-Islamism's  hope  to  use  these 
Arab  or  Arabized  fanatics  as  an  officers'  corps  for  the 
black  millions  whom  it  is  converting  to  the  faith. 

Concerning  Islam's  steady  progress  in  black  Africa 
there  can  be  no  shadow  of  a  doubt.  Every  candid  Eu- 
ropean observer  tells  the  same  story.  "  Mohammedan- 
ism/' says  Sir  Charles  Elliott,  "can  still  give  the  natives 


BLACK    MAN'S    LAND  95 

a  motive  for  animosity  against  Europeans  and  a  unity 
of  which  they  are  otherwise  incapable. ' ' !  Twenty  years 
ago  another  English  observer,  T.  R.  Threlfall,  wrote: 
"  Mohammedanism  is  making  marvellous  progress 
in  the  interior  of  Africa.  It  is  crushing  paganism  out. 
Against  it  the  Christian  propaganda  is  a  myth.  .  .  . 
The  rapid  spread  of  militant  Mohammedanism  among 
the  savage  tribes  to  the  north  of  the  equator  is  a  serious 
factor  in  the  fight  for  racial  supremacy  in  Africa.  With 
very  few  exceptions  the  colored  races  of  Africa  are  pre- 
eminently fighters.  To  them  the  law  of  the  stronger 
is  supreme;  they  have  been  conquered,  and  in  turn 
they  conquered.  To  them  the  fierce,  warlike  spirit 
inherent  in  Mohammedanism  is  infinitely  more  attrac- 
tive than  is  the  gentle,  peace-loving,  high  moral  stand- 
ard of  Christianity:  hence,  the  rapid  headway  the 
former  is  making  in  central  Africa,  and  the  certainty 
that  it  will  soon  spread  to  the  south  of  the  Zam- 
bezi."2 

The  "way  in  which  Islam  is  marching  southward 
is  dramatically  shown  by  a  recent  incident.  A  few 
years  ago  the  British  authorities  suddenly  discovered 
that  Mohammedanism  was  pervading  Nyassaland. 
An  investigation  brought  out  the  fact  that  it  was  the 
work  of  Zanzibar  Arabs.  They  began  their  propa- 
ganda about  1900.  Ten  years  later  almost  every  vil- 
lage in  southern  Nyassaland  had  its  Moslem  teacher 

1  A.  R.  Colquhoun,  "Pan-Islam,"  North  American  Review,  June,  1906. 
'T.  R.  Threlfall,  "Senussi  and  His  Threatened  Holy  War," 
Uenth  Century,  March,  1900. 


96    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

and  its  mosque-hut.  Although  the  movement  was 
frankly  anti-European,  the  British  authorities  did  not 
dare  to  check  it  for  fear  of  repercussions  elsewhere. 
Another  interesting  fact,  probably  not  unconnected, 
is  that  Nyassaland  has  lately  been  the  theatre  of  an 
anti-white  "Christian"  propaganda — the  so-called 
"Ethiopian  Church,"  of  which  I  shall  presently  speak. 
Islam  has  thus  two  avenues  of  approach  to  the  Afri- 
can negro — his  natural  preference  for  a  militant  faith 
and  his  resentment  at  white  tutelage.  It  is  the  dis- 
inclination of  the  more  martial  African  peoples  for  a 
pacific  creed  which  perhaps  accounts  for  Christianity's 
slow  progress  among  the  very  warlike  tribes  of  South 
Africa,  such  as  the  Zulus  and  the  Matabele.  Islam 
is  as  yet  unknown  south  of  the  Zambezi,  but  white 
men  universally  dread  the  possibility  of  its  appearance, 
fearing  its  effect  upon  the  natives.  Of  course  Chris- 
tianity has  made  distinct  progress  in  the  Dark  Conti- 
nent. The  natives  of  the  South  African  Union  are 
predominantly  Christianized.  In  east-central  Africa 
Christianity  has  also  gained  many  converts,  particu- 
larly in  Uganda,  while  on  the  West  African  Guinea 
coast  Christian  missions  have  long  been  established 
and  have  generally  succeeded  in  keeping  Islam  away 
from  the  seaboard.  Certainly,  all  white  men,  whether 
professing  Christians  or  not,  should  welcome  the  suc- 
cess of  missionary  efforts  in  Africa.  The  degrading 
fetishism  and  demonology  which  sum  up  the  native 
pagan  cults  cannot  stand,  and  all  negroes  will  some 
day  be  either  Christians  or  Moslems.  In  so  far  as  h* 


BLACK    MAN'S    LAND  97 

is  Christianized,  the  negro's  savage  instincts  will  be 
restrained  and  he  will  be  disposed  to  acquiesce  in 
white  tutelage.  In  so  far  as  he  is  Islamized,  the  negro's 
warlike  propensities  will  be  inflamed,  and  he  will  be 
used  as  the  tool  of  Arab  Pan-Islamism  seeking  to  drive 
the  white  man  from  Africa  and  make  the  continent 
its  very  own. 

As  to  specific  anti-white  sentiments  among  negroes 
untouched  by  Moslem  propaganda,  such  sentiments 
undoubtedly  exist  in  many  quarters.  The  strongest 
manifestations  are  in  South  Africa,  where  interracial 
relations  are  bad  and  becoming  worse,  but  there  is 
much  diffused,  half-articulate  dislike  of  white  men 
throughout  central  Africa  as  well.  Devoid  though 
the  African  savage  is  of  either  national  or  cultural  con- 
sciousness, he  could  not  be  expected  to  welcome  a  tute- 
lage which  imposed  many  irksome  restrictions  upon 
him.  Furthermore,  the  African  negro  does  seem  to 
possess  a  certain  rudimentary  sense  of  race-solidarity. 
The  existence  of  both  these  sentiments  is  proved  by  the 
way  in  which  the  news  of  white  military  reverses  have 
at  once  been  known  and  rejoiced  in  all  over  black 
Africa;  spread,  it  would  seem,  by  those  mysterious 
methods  of  communication  employed  by  negroes  every- 
where and  called  in  our  Southern  States  "grape-vine 
telegraph."  The  Russo-Japanese  War,  for  example, 
produced  all  over  the  Dark  Continent  intensely  exciting 
effects. 

This  generalized  anti-white  feeling  has,  during  the 
past  decade,  taken  tangible  form  in  South  Africa. 


98    THE   RISING    TIDE   OF   COLOR 

The  white  population  of  the  Union,  though  numbering 
1,500,000,  is  surrounded  by  a  black  population  four 
times  as  great  and  increasing  more  rapidly,  while  in 
many  sections  the  whites  are  outnumbered  ten  to  one. 
The  result  is  a  state  of  affairs  exactly  paralleling  con- 
ditions in  our  own  South,  the  South  African  whites 
feeling  obliged  to  protect  their  ascendancy  by  elaborate 
legal  regulations  and  social  taboos.  The  negroes  have 
been  rapidly  growing  more  restive  under  these  dis- 
criminations, and  unpleasant  episodes  like  race-riots, 
rapings,  and  lynchings  are  increasing  in  South  Africa 
from  year  to  year. 

One  of  the  most  significant,  not  to  say  ominous,  signs 
of  the  times  is  the  "Ethiopian  Church"  movement. 
The  movement  began  about  fifteen  years  ago,  some  of 
its  founders  being  Afro- American  Methodist  preachers 
— a  fact  which  throws  a  curious  light  on  possible  Ameri- 
can negro  reflexes  upon  their  ancestral  homeland.  The 
movement  spread  rapidly,  many  native  mission  congre- 
gations cutting  loose  from  white  ecclesiastical  control 
and  joining  the  negro  organization.  It  also  soon  dis- 
played frankly  anti-white  tendencies,  and  the  govern- 
ment became  seriously  alarmed  at  its  unsettling  influ- 
ence upon  the  native  mind.  It  was  suspected  of  having 
had  a  hand  in  the  Zulu  rising  which  broke  out  in 
Natal  in  1907  and  which  was  put  down  only  after  many 
whites  and  thousands  of  natives  had  lost  their  lives. 
Shortly  afterward  the  authorities  outlawed  the  Ethio- 
pian Church  and  forbade  Afro-American  preachers  to 
enter  South  Africa,  but  the  movement,  though  legally 


BLACK    MAN'S    LAND  99 

suppressed,  lived  surreptitiously  on  and  appeared  in 
new  quarters. 

In  1915  a  peculiarly  fanatical  form  of  Ethiopianism 
broke  out  in  Nyassaland.  Its  leader  was  a  certain 
John  Chilembwe,  an  Ethiopian  preacher  who  had 
been  educated  in  the  United  States.  His  propa- 
ganda was  bitterly  anti-white,  asserting  that  Africa 
belonged  to  the  black  man,  that  the  white  man  was 
an  intruder,  and  that  he  ought  to  be  killed  off  until  he 
grew  discouraged  and  abandoned  the  country.  Chilem- 
bwe  plotted  a  rising  all  over  Nyassaland,  the  killing  of 
the  white  men,  and  the  carrying  off  of  the  white  women. 
In  January,  1915,  the  rising  took  place.  Some  planta- 
tions were  sacked  and  several  whites  killed,  their  heads 
being  carried  to  Chilembwe's  "church,"  where  a 
thanksgiving  service  for  victory  was  held.  The  whites, 
however,  acted  with  great  vigor,  the  poorly  armed  in- 
surgents were  quickly  scattered,  and  John  Chilembwe 
himself  was  soon  hunted  down  and  killed.  In  itself, 
the  incident  was  of  slight  importance,  but,  taken  in 
connection  with  much  else,  it  does  not  augur  well  for 
the  future.1 

hAn  interesting  indication  of  the  growing  sense  of 
egro  race-solidarity  was  the  "Pan- African  Congress" 
eld  at  Paris  early  in  1919.    Here  delegates  from  black 
communities  throughout  the  world  gathered  to  discuss 
matters  of  common  interest.     Most  of  the  delegates 
were  from  Africa  and  the  Americas,  but  one  delegate 
from  New  Guinea  was  also  present,  thus  representing 

1  For  details,  see  The  Annual  Register  for  1915  and  1916. 


V-A 

r 

v.h 


100    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

the  Australasian  branch  of  the  black  race.  The 
Congress  was  not  largely  attended  and  was  of  a  some- 
what provisional  character,  but  arrangements  for  the 
holding  of  subsequent  congresses  were  made. 

Here,  then,  is  the  African  problem's  present  status: 
To  begin  with,  we  have  a  rapidly  growing  black  popu- 
lation, increasingly  restive  under  white  tutelage  and 
continually  excited  by  Pan-Islamic  propaganda  with 
the  further  complication  of  another  anti-white  propa- 
ganda spread  by  negro  radicals  from  America. 

The  African  situation  is  thus  somewhat  analogous 
to  conditions  in  Asia.  But  the  analogy  must  not  be 
pressed  too  far.  In  Asia  white  hegemony  rests  solely 
on  political  bases,  while- the  Asiatics  themselves,  browns 
and  yellows  alike,  display  constructive  power  and 
possess  civilizations  built  up  by  their  own  efforts  from 
the  remote  past.  The  Asiatics  are  to-day  once  more 
displaying  their  innate  capacity  by  not  merely  adopt- 
ing, but  adapting,  white  ideas  and  methods.  We  be- 
hold an  Asiatic  renaissance,  whose  genuineness  is  best 
attested  by  the  fact  that  there  have  been  similar 
movements  in  past  times. 

None  of  this  applies  to  Africa.  The  black  race  has 
never  shown  real  constructive  power.  It  has  never 
built  up  a  native  civilization.  Such  progress  as  cer- 
tain negro  groups  have  made  has  been  due  to  external 
pressure  and  has  never  long  outlived  that  pressure's 
removal,  for  the  negro,  when  left  to  himself,  as  in 
Haiti  and  Liberia,  rapidly  reverts  to  his  ancestral  ways. 
The  negro  is  a  facile,  even  eager,  imitator;  but  there 


BLACK   MAN'S    LAND  101 

he  stops.  He  adopts;  but  he  does  not  adapt,  assim- 
ilate, and  give  forth  creatively  again. 

The  whole  of  history  testifies  to  this  truth.  As  the 
Englishman  Meredith  Townsend  says:  "None  of  the 
black  races,  whether  negro  or  Australian,  have  shown 
within  the  historic  time  the  capacity  to  develop  civiliza- 
tion. They  have  never  passed  the  boundaries  of  their 
own  habitats  as  conquerors,  and  never  exercised  the 
smallest  influence  over  peoples  not  black.  They  have 
never  founded  a  stone  city,  have  never  built  a  ship, 
have  never  produced  a  literature,  have  never  sug- 
gested a  creed.  .  .  .  There  seems  to  be  no  reason  for 
this  except  race.  It  is  said  that  the  negro  has  been 
buried  in  the  most  '  massive '  of  the  four  continents, 
and  has  been,  so  to  speak,  lost  to  humanity;  but  he 
was  always  on  the  Nile,  the  immediate  road  to  the 
Mediterranean,  and  in  West  and  East  Africa  he  was 
on  the  sea.  Africa  is  probably  more  fertile,  and  almost 
certainly  richer  than  Asia,  and  is  pierced  by  rivers  as 
mighty,  and  some  of  them  at  least  as  navigable.  What 
could  a  singularly  healthy  race,  armed  with  a  constitu- 
tion which  resists  the  sun  and  defies  malaria,  wish  for 

bter  than  to  be  seated  on  the  Nile,  or  the  Congo,  or 

ie  Niger,  in  numbers  amply  sufficient  to  execute  any 
leeded  work,  from  the  cutting  of  forests  and  the  mak- 
of  roads  up  to  the  building  of  cities?  How  was 

te  negro  more  secluded* than  the  Peruvian;  or  why 
he  'shut  up'  worse  than  the  Tartar  of  Samarcand, 

rho  one  day  shook  himself,  gave  up  all  tribal  feuds, 
and,  from  the  Sea  of  Okhotsk  to  the  Baltic  and  south- 


102    THE    RISING    TIDE   OF   COLOR 

ward  to  the  Nerbudda,  mastered  the  world?  .  .  .  The 
negro  went  by  himself  far  beyond  the  Australian  savage. 
He  learned  the  use  of  fire,  the  fact  that  sown  grain  will 
grow,  the  value  of  shelter,  the  use  of  the  bow  and  the 
canoe,  and  the  good  of  clothes;  but  there  to  all  appear- 
ances he  stopped,  unable,  until  stimulated  by  another 
race  like  the  Arab,  to  advance  another  step." l 

Unless,  then,  every  lesson  of  history  is  to  be  disre- 
garded, we  must  conclude  that  black  Africa  is  unable 
to  stand  alone.  The  black  man's  numbers  may  in- 
crease prodigiously  and  acquire  alien  veneers,  but  the 
black  man's  nature  will  not  change.  Black  unrest  may 
grow  and  cause  much  trouble.  Nevertheless,  the  white 
man  must  stand  fast 'in  Africa.  No  black  "renais- 
sance" impends,  and  Africa,  if  abandoned  by  the  whites, 
would  merely  fall  beneath  the  onset  of  the  browns. 
And  that  would  be  a  great  calamity.  As  stated  in  the 
preceding  chapter,  the  brown  peoples,  of  themselves, 
do  not  directly  menace  white  race-areas,  while  Pan- 
Islamism  is  at  present  an  essentially  defensive  move- 
ment. But  Islam  is  militant  by  nature,  and  the  Arab 
is  a  restless  and  warlike  breed.  ^Pan-Islamism  once 
possessed  of  the  Dark  Continent  and  fired  by  militant 
zealots,  might  forge  black  Africa  into  a  sword  of 
wrath,  the  executor  of  sinister  adventures. 

Fortunately  the  white  man  has  every  reason  for 
keeping  a  firm  hold  on  Africa.  Not  only  are  its  cen- 
tral tropics  prime  sources  of  raw  materials  and  food- 
stuffs which  white  direction  can  alone  develop,  but  to 
VTownsend,  op.  cit.t  pp.  92, 366-6. 


BLACK    MAN'S    LAND  103 

north  and  south  the  white  man  has  struck  deep  roots 
into  the  soil.  Both  extremities  of  the  continent  are 
"white  man's  country,"  where  strong  white  peoples 
should  ultimately  arise.  Two  of  the  chief  white 
Powers,  Britain  and  France,  are  pledged  to  the  hilt 
in  this  racial  task  and  will  spare  no  effort  to  safeguard 
the  heritage  of  their  pioneering  children.  Brown  in- 
fluence in  Africa  is  strong,  but  it  is  supreme  only  in  the 
northeast  and  its  line  of  communication  with  the 
Asiatic  homeland  runs  over  the  narrow  neck  of  Suez. 
Should  stern  necessity  arise,  the  white  world  could 
hold  Suez  against  Asiatic  assault  and  crush  brown  re- 
sistance in  Africa. 

In  short,  the  real  danger  to  white  control  of  Africa 
lies,  not  in  brown  attack  or  black  revolt,  but  in 
possible  white  weakness  through  chronic  discord  within 
the  white  world  itself.  And  that  subject  must  be  re- 
served for  later  chapters. 


CHAPTER   V 
RED  MAN'S  LAND 

RED  MAN'S  LAND  is  the  Americas  between  the  Rio 
Grande  and  the  tropic  of  Capricorn.  Here  dwells 
the  " Amerindian'7  race.  At  the  time  of  Columbus 
the  whole  western  hemisphere  was  theirs,  but  the 
white  man  has  extirpated  or  absorbed  them  to  north 
and  south,  so  that  to-day  the  United  States  and  Can- 
ada in  North  America  and  the  southern  portions  of 
South  America  are  genuine  "white  man's  country." 
In  the  intermediate  zone  above  mentioned,  however, 
the  Amerindian  has  survived  and  forms  the  majority 
of  the  population,  albeit  considerably  mixed  with  white 
and  to  a  lesser  degree  with  negro  blood.  The  total 
number  of  "  Indians,"  including  both  full-bloods  and 
mixed  types,  is  about  40,000,000 — more  than  two- 
thirds  of  the  whole  population.  In  addition,  there  are 
several  million  negroes  and  mulattoes,  mostly  in  Brazil. 
The  white  population  of  the  intermediate  zone,  even  if 
we  include  "  near-whites/'  does  not  average  more  than 
10  per  cent,  though  it  varies  greatly  with  different  re- 
gions. The  reader  should  remember  that  neither  the 
West  India  Islands  nor  the  southern  portion  of  the 
South  American  continent  are  included  in  this  gener- 
alization. In  the  West  Indies  the  Amerindian  has  com- 
pletely died  out  and  has  been  replaced  by  the  negro, 

104 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  105 

while  southern  South  America,  especially  Argentina 
and  Uruguay,  are  genuine  white  man's  country  in  which 
there  is  little  Indian  and  no  negro  blood.  Despite 
these  exceptions,  however,  the  fact  remains  that,  taken 
as  a  whole,  "Latin  America/'  the  vast  land-block  from 
the  Rio  Grande  to  Cape  Horn,  is  racially  not  "Latin" 
but  Amerindian  or  negroid,  with  a  thin  Spanish  or 
Portuguese  veneer.  In  other  words,  though  commonly 
considered  part  of  the  white  world,  most  of  Latin 
America  is  ethnically  colored  man's  land,  which  has 
been  growing  more  colored  for  the  past  hundred  years. 
Latin  America's  evolution  was  predetermined  by  the 
Spanish  Conquest.  That  very  word  "conquest"  tells 
the  story.  The  United  States  was  settled  by  colonists 
planning  homes  and  bringing  their  women.  It  was 
thus  a  genuine  migration,  and  resulted  in  a  full  trans- 
planting of  white  stock  to  new  soil.  The  Indians  en- 
countered were  wild  nomads,  fierce  of  temper  and  few 
in  number.  After  sharp  conflicts  they  were  extirpated, 
leaving  virtually  no  ethnic  traces  behind.  The  colo- 
nization of  Latin  America  was  the  exact  antithesis. 
The  Spanish  Conquistador es  were  bold  warriors  descend- 
ing upon  vast  regions  inhabited  by  relatively  dense 
populations,  some  of  which,  as  in  Mexico  and  Peru,  had 
attained  a  certain  degree  of  civilization.  '^  The  Span- 
iards, invincible  in  their  shining  armor,  paralyzed  with 
terror  these  people  still  dwelling  in  the  age  of  bronze 
and  polished  stone.  With  ridiculous  ease  mere  hand- 
fuls  of  whites  overthrew  empires  and  lorded  it  like  gods 
over  servile  and  adoring  multitudes.  Cortez  marched 


106    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

on  Mexico  with  less  than  600  followers,  while  Pizarro 
had  but  310  companions  when  he  started  his  conquest 
of  Peru.  Of  course  the  fabulous  treasures  amassed 
in  these  exploits  drew  swarms  of  bold  adventurers 
from  Spain.  Nevertheless,  their  numbers  were  al- 
ways infinitesimal  compared  with  the  vastness  of  the 
quarry,  while  the  proportion  of  women  immigrants 
continued  to  lag  far  behind  that  of  the  men.  The 
breeding  of  pure  whites  in  Latin  America  was  thus  b«th 
scanty  and  slow. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  breeding  of  mixed-bloods 
began  at  once  and  attained  notable  proportions.  Hav- 
ing slaughtered  the  Indian  males  or  brigaded  them  in 
slave-gangs,  the  Conquistadores  took  the  Indian 
women  to  themselves.  The  humblest  man-at-arms 
had  several  female  attendants,  while  the  leaders  be- 
came veritable  pashas  with  great  harems  of  concu- 
bines. The  result  was  a  prodigious  output  of  half-, 
breed  children,  known  as  "mestizos"  or  "cholos." 

And  soon  a  new  ethnic  complication  was  added.  The 
Indians  having  developed  a  melancholy  trick  of  dying 
off  under  slavery,  the  Spaniards  imported  African 
negroes  to  fill  the  servile  ranks,  and  since  they  took 
negresses  as  well  as  Indian  women  for  concubines,  other 
half-breeds — mulattoes — appeared.  Here  and  there 
Indians  and  negroes  mated  on  their  own  accouht,  the 
offspring  being  known  as  "zambos."  In  time  these 
Yvari°us  hybrids  bred  among  themselves,  producing  the 
"inost  extraordinary  ethnic  combinations.  As  Garcia- 
Calderon  well  puts  it:  "Grotesque  generations  with 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  107 

every  shade  of  complexion  and  every  conformation  of 
skull  were  born  in  America — a  crucible  continually 
agitated  by  unheard-of  fusions  of  races.  .  .  .  But  there 
was  little  Latin  blood  to  be  found  in  the  homes  formed 
1  >y  the  sensuality  of  the  first  conquerors  of  a  desolated 
America." 1 

To  be  sure,  this  mongrel  population  long  remained 
politically  negligible.  The  Spaniards  regarded  them- 
selves as  a  master-caste,  and  excluded  all  save  pure 
whites  from  civic  rights  and  social  privileges/  In 
fact,  the  European-born  Spaniards  refused  to  recognize 
even  their  colonial-born  kinsmen  as  their  equals,  and 
"Creoles"2  could  not  aspire  to  the  higher  distinctions 
or  offices.  This  attitude  was  largely  inspired  by  the  de- 
sire to  maintain  a  lucrative  monopoly.  Yet  the  Euro- 
pean's sense  of  superiority  had  some  valid  grounds. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Creole  whites,  as  a 
class,  showed  increasing  signs  of  degeneracy.  Climate 
was  a  prime  cause  in  the  hotter  regions,  but  there 
were  many  plateau  areas,  as  in  Colombia,  Mexico,  and 
Peru,  which  though  geographically  in  the  tropics  had  , 
a  temperate  climate  from  their  elevation. 

Even  more  than  by  climate  the  Creole  was  injured 
by  contact  with  the  colored  races.  Pampered  and  cor- 
rupted from  birth  by  obsequious*  slaves,  the  Creole 

*F.  GaroiarCalderon,  "Latin  America:  Its  Rise  and  Progress," 
p.  49  (English  translation,  London,  1913). 

2  Although  loose  usage  has  since  obscured  its  true  meaning,  the  term 
"Creole"  has  to  do,  not  with  race,  but  with  birthplace.  "Creole" 
originally  meant  "one  born  in  the  colonies."  Down  to  the  nineteenth 
century,  this  was  perfectly  clear.  Whites  were  "Creole"  or  "Eu- 
ropean"; negroes  were  "Creole"  or  "African." 


108    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

usually  led  an  idle  and  vapid  existence,  disdaining 
work  as  servile  and  debarred  from  higher  callings  by 
his  European-born  superiors.  As  time  passed,  the  de- 
generacy due  to  climate  and  custom  was  intensified 
by  degeneracy  of  blood.  Despite  legal  enactment  and 
social  taboo,  colored  strains  percolated  insidiously  into 
the  Creole  stock.  The  leading  families,  by  elaborate 
precautions,  might  succeed  in  keeping  their  escutcheons 
clean,  but  humbler  circles  darkened  significantly  despite 
fervid  protestations  of  "pure-white"  blood.  Still,  so 
long  as  Spain  kept  her  hold  on  Latin  America,  the 
\  process  of  miscegenation,  socially  considered,  was  a 
slow  one.  The  whole  social  system  was  based  on  the 
idea  of  white  superiority,  and  the  colors  were  carefully 
graded.  "In  America/7  wrote  Humboldt  toward  the 
close  of  Spanish  rule,  "the  more  or  less  white  skin  de- 
termines the  position  which  a  man  holds  in  society.7'1 
The  revolution  against  Spain  had  momentous  con- 
sequences for  the  racial  future  of  Latin  America.  In 
the  beginning,  to  be  sure,  it  was  a  white  civil  war — a 
revolt  of  the  Creoles  against  European  oppression  and 
discrimination.  The  heroes  of  the  revolution — Bolivar, 
Miranda,  San  Martin,  and  the  rest — were  aristocrats  of 
pure-white  blood.  But  the  revolution  presently  de- 
veloped new  features.  To  begin  with,  the  struggle 
was  very  long.  Commencing  in  1809,  it  lasted  almost 
twenty  years.  The  whites  were  decimated  by  fratrici- 
dal fury,  and  when  the  Spanish  cause  was  finally  lost, 
multitudes  of  loyalists  mainly  of  the  superior  social 

1  Garcia-Calderon,  p.  50. 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  109 

classes  left  the  country.  Meanwhile,  the  half-castes, 
who  had  rallied  wholesale  to  the  revolutionary  banner, 
were  demanding  their  reward.  The  Creoles  wished 
to  close  the  revolutionary  cycle  and  establish  a  new 
society  based,  like  the  old,  upon  white  supremacy,  with 
themselves  substituted  for  the  Spaniards.  Bolivar 
planned  a  limited  monarchy  and  a  white  electoral  oli- 
garchy. But  this  was  far  from  suiting  the  half-castes. 
For  them  the  revolution  had  just  begun.  Raising  the 
cry  of  "democracy,"  then  become  fashionable  through 
the  North  American  and  French  revolutions,  they 
proclaimed  the  doctrine  of  "equality"  regardless  of 
skin.  Disillusioned  and  full  of  foreboding,  Bolivar, 
the  master-spirit  of  the  revolution,  disappeared  from 
the  scene,  and  his  lieutenants,  like  the  generals  of 
Alexander,  quarrelled  among  themselves,  split  Latin 
America  into  jarring  fragments,  and  waged  a  long 
series  of  internecine  wars.  The  flood-gates  of  anarchy 
were  opened,  the  result  being  a  steady  weakening  of  the 
whites  and  a  corresponding  rise  of  the  half-castes  in  the 
political  and  social  scale.  Everywhere  ambitious  sol- 
diers led  the  mongrel  mob  against  the  white  aristocracy, 
breaking  its  power  and  making  themselves  dictators. 
These  "caudillos"  were  apostles  of  equality  and  mis- 
cegenation. Says  Garcia-Calderon:  "Tyrants  found 
democracies;  they  lean  on  the  support  of  the  people, 
the  half-breeds  and  negroes,  against  the  oligarchies; 
they  dominate  the  colonial  nobility,  favor  the  crossing 
of  races,  and  free  the  slaves."1 

1  Garcia-Calcteron,  p.  89. 


110    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

The  consequences  of  all  this  were  lamentable  in 
the  extreme.)!  Latin  America's  level  of  civilization  fell 
far  below  that  of  colonial  days.  Spanish  rule,  though 
narrow  and  tyrannical,  had  maintained  peace  and  social 
stability.  Now  all  was  a  hideous  chaos  wherein  fren- 
zied castes  and  colors  grappled  to  the  death.  Ignorant 
mestizos  and  brutal  negroes  trampled  the  fine  flowers 
of  culture  under  foot,  while  as  by  a  malignant  inverse 
selection  the  most  intelligent  and  the  most  cultivated 
perished. 

These  deplorable  conditions  prevailed  in  Latin 
America  until  well  past  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth 
century.  Of  course,  here  as  elsewhere,  anarchy  en- 
gendered tyranny,  and- strong  caudillos  sometimes  per- 
petuated their  dictatorship  for  decades,  as  in  Para- 
guay under  Doctor  Francia  and  in  Mexico  under  Por- 
firio  Diaz.  However,  these  were  mere  interludes,  of 
no  constructive  import.  Always  the  aging  lion  lost 
his  grip,  the  lurking  hyenas  of  anarchy  downed  him  at 
last,  and  the  land  sank  once  more  into  revolutionary 
chaos.  Some  parts  of  Latin  America  did,  indeed,  def- 
initety  emerge  into  the  light  of  stable  progress.  But 
those  favored  regions  owed  their  deliverance,  not  to 
dictatorship,  but  to  race.  One  of  two  factors  always 
operated:  either  (1)  an  efficient  white  oligarchy;  or 
(2)  Aryanization  through  wholesale  European  immigra- 
tion. 

Stabilization  through  oligarchy  is  best  illustrated 
by  Chile.  Chilean  history  differs  widely  from  that 
of  the  rest  of  Latin  America.  A  land  of  cool  climate, 


RED    MAN'S   LAND  111 

no  gold,  and  warlike  Araucanian  Indians,  Chile  at- 
tracted the  pioneering  settler  rather  than  the  swash- 
buckling seeker  of  treasure-trove.  Now  the  pioneer- 
ing types  in  Spain  come  mainly  from  those  northern 
provinces  which  have  retained  considerable  Nordic 
blood.  The  Chilean  colonists  were  thus  largely  blond 
Asturians  or  austere,  reasonable  Basques,  seeking  homes 
and  bringing  their  women.  Of  course  there  was  cross- 
ing with  the  natives,  but  the  fierce  Araucanian  aborig- 
ines clung  to  their  wild  freedom  and  kept  up  an  inter- 
minable frontier  warfare  in  which  the  occasions  for 
race-mixture  were  relatively  few.  The  country  was 
thus  settled  by  a  resident  squirearchy  of  an  almost 
English  type.  This  ruling  gentry  jealously  guarded 
its  racial  integrity.  In  fact,  it  possessed  not  merely 
a  white  but  a  Nordic  race-consciousness.  The  Chilean 
gentry  called  themselves  sons  of  the  Visigoths,  scions 
of  Euric  and  Pelayo,  who  had  found  in  remote  Arau- 
cania  a  chance  to  slake  their  racial  thirst  for  fighting 

d  freedom. 

In  Chile,  as  elsewhere,  the  revolution  provoked  a 
of  disorder.  But  the  cycle  was  short,  and  was 

ore  a  political  struggle  between  white  factions  than 

social  welter  of  caste  and  race.  Furthermore,  Chile 
receiving  fresh  accessions  of  Nordic  blood.  Many 
Scotch,  and  Irish  gentleman-adventurers, 
part  in  the  War  of  ^Independence,  settled  down 

a  land  so  reminiscent  of  their  own.  Germans  also 
e  in  considerable  numbers,  settling  especially  in 
colder  south.  Thus  the  Chilean  upper  classes. 


112    THE   RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

always  pure  white,  became  steadily  more  Nordic  in 
ethnic  character.  The  political  and  social  results 
were  unmistakable.  Chile  rapidly  evolved  a  stable 
society,  essentially  oligarchic  and  consciously  patterned 
on  aristocratic  England.  Efficient,  practical,  and  ex- 
tremely patriotic,  the  Chilean  oligarchs  made  their 
country  at  once  the  most  stable  and  the  most  dynamic 
factor  in  Latin  America. 

The  distinctly  "Northern"  character  of  Chile  and 
the  Chileans  strike  foreign  observers.  Here,  for  ex- 
ample, are  the  impressions  of  a  recent  visitor,  the  North 
'American  sociologist,  Professor  E.  A.  Ross.  Landing 
at  the  port  of  Valparaiso,  he  is  "struck  by  signs  of 
English  influence.  On,  the  commercial  streets  every 
third  man  suggests  the  Briton,  while  a  large  proportion 
of  the  business  people  look  as  if  they  have  their  daily 
tub.  The  cleanliness  of  the  streets,  the  freshness  of 
the  parks  and  squares,  the  dressing  of  the  shop-win- 
dows, and  the  style  of  the  mounted  police  remind  one 
of  England." *  As  to  the  Nordic  affinities  of  the  upper 
classes:  "One  sees  it  in  stature,  eye  color,  and  ruddy 
complexion.  .  .  .  Among  the  pupils  of  Santiago  Col- 
lege there  are  as  many  blonds  as  brunets."2  Even 
among  the  peon  or  "roto"  class,  despite  considerable 
Indian  crossing,  Professor  Ross  noted  the  strong  Nordic 
strain,  for  he  met  Chilean  peasants  "whose  stature, 
broad  shoulders,  big  faces,  and  tawny  mustaches  pro- 

1  Edward  Alsworth  Ross,  "South  of  Panama,"  pp.  97-98  (New 
York,  1914). 
*  Ross,  p.  109. 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  113 

claimed  them  as  genuine  Norsemen  as  the  Icelanders  in 
our  Red  River  Valley."1 

Chile  is  thus  the  prime  example  of  social  stability' 
and  progress  attained  through  white  oligarchic  rule. 
Other,  though  less  successful,  instances  are  to  be  noted 
in  Peru,  Colombia,  and  Costa  Rica.  Peru  and  Colom- 
bia, though  geographically  within  the  tropics,  have  ex- 
tensive temperate  plateaux.  Here  numerous  whites 
settled  during  the  colonial  period,  forming  an  upper 
caste  over  a  large  Indian  population.  Unlike  Chile, 
few  Nordics  came  to  leaven  society  with  those  qualiti 
of  constructive  genius  and  racial  self-respect  which 
are  the  special  birthright  of  Nordic  man.  Unlike 
Chile  again,  not  only  were  there  dense  Indian  masses, 
but  there  was  also  an  appreciable  negro  element. 
Lastly,  the  number  of  mixed-bloods  was  very  large. 
It  is  thus  not  surprising  that  for  both  Peru  and  Colom- 
bia the  revolution  ushered  in  a  period  of  turmoil  from 
which  neither  have  even  yet  emerged.  The  whites 
have  consistently  fought  among  themselves,  invoking 
the  half-castes  as  auxiliaries  and  using  Indians  and 
negroes  as  their  pawns.  The  whites  are  still  the  domi- 
nant element,  but  only  the  first  families  retain  their 
pure  blood,  and  miscegenation  creeps  upward  with 
every  successive  generation.  As  for  Costa  Rica,  it  is 
a  tiny  bit  of  cool  hill-country,  settled  by  whites  in 
colonial  times,  and  to-day,  rises  an  oasis  of  civiliza- 
tion, above  the  tropic  jungle  of  degenerate,  mongrel 
Central  America. 

^  Ross,  p.  109. 


114    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

The  second  method  of  social  stabilization  in  Latin 
America — Aryanization  through  wholesale  European 
immigration — is  exemplified  by  Argentina  and  Uru- 
guay. Neither  of  these  lands  had  very  promising  be- 
ginnings. Their  populations,  at  the  revolution,  con- 
tained strong  Indian  infusions  and  traces  of  negro 
blood,  while  after  the  revolution  both  fell  under  the 
sway  of  tyrannical  dictators  who  persecuted  the  white 
aristocrats  and  favored  miscegenation.  However,  Ar- 
gentina and  Uruguay  possessed  two  notable  advan- 
tages: they  were  climatically  white  man's  country, 
and  they  at  first  contained  a  very  small  population. 
Since  they  produced  neither  gold  nor  tropical  luxuries, 
Spain  had  neglected- them,  so  that  at  the  revolution 
they  consisted  of  little  more  than  the  port-towns  of 
Buenos  Aires  and  Montevideo  with  a  few  dependent 
river-settlements.  Their  vast  hinterlands  of  fertile 
prairie  then  harbored  only  wandering  tribes  of  nomad 
savages. 

During  the  last  half  of  the  nineteenth  century, 
however,  the  development  of  ocean  transport  gave 
these  antipodean  prairies  value  as  stock-raising  and 
grain-growing  sources  for  congested  Europe,  and  Eu- 
rope promptly  sent  immigrants  to  supply  her  needs. 
This  immigrant  stream  gradually  swelled  to  a  veritable 
deluge.  The  human  tide  was,  on  the  whole,  of  sound 
stock,  mostly  Spaniards  and  north  Italians,  with  some 
Nordic  elements  from  northern  Europe  in  the  upper 
strata.  Thus  Europe  locked  antipodean  America 
securely  tc  the  white  world.  As  for  the  colonial  stock, 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  115 

it  merged  easily  into  the  newer,  kindred  flood.  Here 
and  there ^signs  of  J ormer  miscegenation  still  show, 
the  Argentine  being  sometimes,  as  Madison  Grant  well 
puts  it,  "suspiciously  swarthy."1  Nevertheless,  these 
are  but  vestigial  traces  which  the  ceaseless  European 
inflow  will  ultimately  eradicate.  The  large  impending 
German  immigration  to  Argentina  and  Uruguay  should 
bring  valuable  Nordic  elements. 

This  same  tide  of  European  immigration  has  like- 
wise pretty  well  Aryanized  the  southern  provinces  of 
Brazil,  adjacent  to  the  Uruguayan  border.  Those 
provinces  were  neglected  by  Portugal  as  Argentina  and 
Uruguay  were  by  Spain,  and  half  a  century  ago  they 
had  a  very  sparse  population.  To-day  they  support 
millions  of  European  immigrants,  mostly  Italians  and 
European  Portuguese,  but  with  the  further  addition 
of  nearly  half  a  million  Germans.  Brazil  is,  in  fact, 
evolving  into  two  racially  distinct  communities.  The 
southern  provinces  are  white  man's  country,  with  little 
Indian  or  negro  blood,  and  with  a  distinct  "  color  line." 
The  tropical  north  is  saturated  with  Indian  and  negro 
strains,  and  the  whites  are  rapidly  disappearing  in  a 
universal  mongrelization.  Ultimately  this  must  pro- 
duce momentous  political  consequences. 

Bearing  in  mind  the  exceptions  above  noted,  let  us 
now  observe  the  vast  tropical  and  semi-tropical  bulk 
of  Latin  America.  Here  we  find  notable  changes  since 
colonial  days.  White  predominance  is  substantially 

1  Madison  Grant,  "The  Passing  of  the  Great  Race,"  p.  78.  (2d 
edition,  New  York,  1918.) 


116    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

a  thing  of  the  past.  Persons  of  unmixed  Spanish  or 
Portuguese  descent  are  relatively  few,  most  of  the 
so-called  "whites"  being  really  near-whites,  more  or 
less  deeply  tinged  with  colored  bloods.  It  is  a  strik- 
ing token  of  white  race-prestige  that  these  near- 
whites,  despite  their  degeneracy  and  inefficiency,  are 
yet  the  dominant  element;  occupying,  in  fact,  much 
the  same  status  as  the  aristocratic  Creoles  immediately 
after  the  War  of  Independence.  Nevertheless,  the 
near-whites'  supremacy  is  now  threatened.  Every 
decade  of  chronic  anarchy  favors  the  darker  half- 
breeds,  while  below  these,  in  turn,  the  Indian  and 
negro  full-bloods  are  beginning  to  stir,  as  in  Mexico 
to-day. 

Most  informed  observers  agree  that  the  mixed- 
bloods  of  Latin  America  are  distinctly  inferior  to  the 
whites.  This  applies  to  both  mestizos  and  mulattoes, 
albeit  the  mestizo  (the  cross  between  white  and  In- 
dian) seems  less  inferior  than  the  mulatto — the  cross 
between  white  and  black.  As  for  the  zambo,  the  In- 
dian-negro cross,  everybody  is  agreed  that  it  is  a  very 
bad  one.  Analyses  of  these  hybrid  stocks  show  re- 
markable similarities  to  the  mongrel  chaos  of  the  de- 
clining Roman  Empire.  Here  is  the  judgment  of 
Garcia-Calderon,  a  Peruvian  scholar  and  generally 
considered  the  most  authoritative  writer  on  Latin 
America.  "The  racial  question,"  he  writes,  "is  a 
very  serious  problem  in  American  history.  It  explains 
the  progress  of  certain  peoples  and  the  decadence  of 
others,  and  it  is  the  key  to  the  incurable  disorder  which 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  117 

divides  America.  Upon  it  depend  a  great  number  of 
secondary  phenomena;  the  public  wealth,  the  indus- 
trial system,  the  stability  of  governments,  the  solidity 
of  patriotism.  .  .  .  This  complication  of  castes,  this 
admixture  of  diverse  bloods,  has  created  many  prob- 
lems. For  example,  is  the  formation  of  a  national 
consciousness  possible  with  such  disparate  elements? 
Would  such  heterogeneous  democracies  be  able  to  resist 
the  invasion  of  superior  races?  Finally,  is  the  South 
American  half-caste  absolutely  incapable  of  organiza- 
tion and  culture ?"*  While  qualifying  his  answers  to 
these  queries,  Garcia-Calderon  yet  deplores  the  half- 
caste's  "decadence."2  "In  the  Iberian  democracies," 
he  says,  "an  inferior  Latinity,  a  Latinity  of  the  de- 
cadence, prevails;  verbal  abundance,  inflated  rhetoric, 
oratorical  exaggeration,  just  as  in  Roman  Spain.  .  .  . 
The  half-caste  loves  grace,  verbal  elegance,  quibbles 
even,  and  artistic  form;  great  passions  and  desires  do 
not  move  him.  In  religion  he  is  sceptical,  indifferent, 
and  in  politics  he  disputes  in  the  Byzantine  manner. 
No  one  could  discover  in  him  a  trace  of  his  Spanish 
forefather,  stoical  and  adventurous."3  Garcia-Calde- 
ron therefore  concludes:  "The  mixture  of  rival  castes, 
Iberians,  Indians,  and  negroes,  has  generally  had  dis- 
astrous consequences.  .  .  .  None  of  the  conditions  es- 
tablished by  the  French  psychologists  are  realized  by 
the  Latin  American  democracies,  and  their  popula- 
tions are  therefore  degenerate.  The  lower  castes  strug- 
gle successfully  against  the  traditional  rules:  the  order 

1  Garcia-Calderon,  pp.  351-2.          a  Ibid.,  p.  287.          •  Ibid.,  p.  360. 


118    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

which  formerly  existed  is  followed  by  moral  anarchy; 
solid  conviction  by  a  superficial  scepticism;  and  the 
Castilian  tenacity  by  indecision.  The  black  race  is 
doing  its  work,  and  the  continent  is  returning  to  its 
primitive  barbarism."1  This  melancholy  fate  can, 
according  to  Garcia-Calderon,  be  averted  only  by 
wholesale  white  immigration:  "In  South  America 
civilization  is  dependent  upon  the  numerical  predomi- 
nance of  the  victorious  Spaniard,  on  the  triumph  of  the 
white  man  over  the  mulatto,  the  negro,  and  the  In- 
dian. Only  a  plentiful  European  immigration  can  re- 
establish the  shattered  equilibrium  of  the  American 
races." 2 

Garcia-Calderon's  pronouncements  are  echoed  by 
foreign  observers.  During  his  South  American  travels 
Professor  Ross  noted  the  same  melancholy  symptoms 
and  pointed  out  the  same  unique  remedy.  Speaking 
of  Ecuador,  he  says:  "I  found  no  foreigners  who  have 
faith  in  the  future  of  this  people.  They  point  out  that 
while  this  was  a  Spanish  colony  there  was  a  continual 
flow  of  immigrants  from  Spain,  many  of  whom,  no 
doubt,  were  men  of  force.  Political  separation  inter- 
rupted this  current,  and  since  then  the  country  has 
really  gone  back.  Spain  had  provided  a  ruling,  or- 
ganizing element,  and,  with  the  cessation  of  the  flow  of 
Spaniards,  the  mixed-bloods  took  charge  of  things, 
for  the  pure-white  element  is  so  small  as  to  be  negligible. 
No  one  suggests  that  the  mestizos  equal  the  whil 
stock  either  in  intellect  or  in  character.  .  .  .  Among 

1  Garcia-Calderoa,  pp.  361-2.  2  Ibid.,  p.  362. 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  119 

the  rougher  foreigners  and  Peruvians  the  pet  name  for 
these  people  is  '  monkeys.7  The  thoughtful  often  liken 
them  to  Eurasians,  clever  enough,  but  lacking  in  solid- 
ity of  character.  Natives  and  foreigners  alike  declare 
that  a  large  white  immigration  is  the  only  hope  for 
-Ecuador."1 

Concerning  Bolivia,  Professor  Ross  writes:  "The 
wisest  sociologist  in  Bolivia  told  me  that  the  zambo, 
resulting  from  the  union  of  Indian  with  negro,  is  in- 
ferior to  both  the  parent  races,  and  that  likewise 
the  mestizo  is  inferior  to  both  white  and  Indian  in 
physical  strength,  resistance  to  disease,  longevity,  and 
brains.  The  failure  of  the  South  American  republics 
has  been  due,  he  declares,  to  mestizo  domination. 
Through  the  colonial  period  there  was  a  flow  of  Span- 
iards to  the  colonies,  and  all  the  offices  down  to  corre- 
gidor  and  cura  were  filled  by  white  men.  With  in- 
dependence, the  whites  ceased  coming,  and  the  lower 
offices  of  state  and  church  were  filled  with  mestizos. 
Then,  too,  the  first  crossing  of  white  with  Indian 
gave  a  better  result  than  the  union  between  mestizos, 
so  that  the  stock  has  undergone  progressive  degenera- 
tion. The  only  thing,  then,  that  can  make  these 
countries  progress  is  a  large  white  immigration,  some- 
thing much  talked  about  by  statesmen  in  all  these 
countries,  but  which  has  never  materialized."1 

These  judgments  refer  particularly  to  Spanish  Amer- 
ica. Regarding  Portuguese  Brazil,  however,  the  ver- 
dict seems  to  be  the  same.  Many  years  ago  Professor 

1  Ross,  "South  of  Panama,"  pp.  29-30.  2  Ross,  p.  41. 


120    THE   RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

Agassiz  wrote:  "Let  any  one  who  doubts  the  evil  of 
this  mixture  of  races,  and  is  inclined  from  mistaken 
philanthropy  to  break  down  all  barriers  between  them, 
come  to  Brazil.  He  cannot  deny  the  deterioration  con- 
sequent upon  the  amalgamation  of  races,  more  wide- 
spread here  than  in  any  country  in  the  world,  and  which 
is  rapidly  effacing  the  best  qualities  of  the  white  man, 
the  negro,  and  the  Indian,  leaving  a  mongrel,  nonde- 
script type,  deficient  in  physical  and  mental  energy."1 

The  mongrel's  political  ascendancy  produces  pre- 
cisely the  results  which  might  have  been  expected. 
These  unhappy  beings,  every  cell  of  whose  bodies  is 
a  battle-ground  of  jarring  heredities,  express  their  souls 
in  acts  of  hectic  violence  and  aimless  instability.  The 
normal  state  of  tropical  America  is  anarchy,  restrained 
only  by  domestic  tyrants  or  foreign  masters.  Garcia- 
Calderon  exactly  describes  its  psychology  when  he 
writes:  "Precocious,  sensual,  impressionable,  the  Amer- 
icans of  these  vast  territories  devote  their  energies  to 
local  politics.  Industry,  commerce,  and  agriculture 
are  in  a  state  of  decay,  and  the  unruly  imagination  of 
the  Creole  expends  itself  in  constitutions,  programmes, 
and  lyrical  discourses;  in  these  regions  anarchy  is 
sovereign  mistress."2  The  tropical  republics  display, 
indeed,  a  tendency  toward  "atomic  disintegration.  .  .  . 
Given  to  dreaming,  they  are  led  by  presidents  suffering 
from  neurosis."3 

The  stock  feature  of  the  mongrel  tropics  is,  of  course, 
the  "revolution."  These  senseless  and  perennial 

1  A.  P.  Schultz,  "Race  or  Mongrel,"  p.  155  (Boston,  1908). 

2  Garcia-Calderon,  p.  222.  »  Ibid. ,  p.  336. 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  121 

outbursts  are  often  ridiculed  in  the  United  States  as 
comic  opera,  but  the  grim  truth  of  the  matter  is  that 
few  Latin  American  revolutions  are  laughing  matters. 
The  numbers  of  men  engaged  may  not  be  very  large 
according  to  our  standards,  but  measured  by  the  scanty 
populations  of  the  countries  concerned,  they  lay  a 
heavy  blood-tax  on  the  suffering  peoples.  The  tattei*- 
demalion  " armies"  may  excite  our  mirth,  but  the 
battles  are  real  enough,  often  fought  out  to  the  death 
with  razor-edged  machetes  and  rusty  bayonets,  and 
there  is  no  more  ghastly  sight  than  a  Latin  American 
battle-field.  The  commandeerings,  burnings,  rapings, 
and  assassinations  inflicted  upon  the  hapless  civilian 
population  cry  to  heaven.  There  is  always  wholesale 
destruction  of  property,  frequently  appalling  loss  of 
life,  and  a  general  paralysis  of  economic  and  social  ac- 
tivity. These  wretched  lands  have  now  been  scourged 
by  the  revolutionary  plague  for  a  hundred  years,  and 
W.  B.  Hale  does  not  overstate  the  consequences  when 
he  says:  "Most  of  the  countries  clustering  about  the 
Caribbean  have  sunk  into  deeper  and  deeper  mires 
of  misrule,  unmatched  for  profligacy  and  violence  any- 
where on  earth.  Revolution  follows  revolution;  one 
band  of  brigands  succeeds  another;  atrocities  revenge 
atrocities;  the  plundered  people  grow  more  and  more 
abject  in  poverty  and  slavishness;  vast  natural  re- 
sources lie  neglected,  while  populations  decrease,  civili- 
zation recedes,  and  the  jungle  advances." J  Of  course, 
under  these  frightful  circumstances,  the  national  char- 

*W.  B.  Hale,  "Our  Danger  in  Central  America,"  World's  Work, 
August,  1912. 


122    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

acter,  weak  enough  at  best,  degenerates  at  an  ever- 
quickening  pace.  Peaceful  effort  of  any  sort  appears 
vain  and  ridiculous,  and  men  are  taught  that  wealth 
is  procurable  only  by  violence  and  extortion. 

Another  important  point  should  be  noted.  I  have 
said  that  Latin  American  anarchy  was  restrained  by 
dictatorship.  But  the  reader  must  not  infer  that  dic- 
tatorships are  halcyon  times — for  the  dictated.  On  the 
contrary,  they  are  usually  only  a  trifle  less  wretched 
and  demoralizing  than  times  of  revolution.  The 
"caudillos"  are  nearly  always  very  sinister  figures. 
Often  they  are  ignorant  brutes;  oftener  they  are  blood- 
thirsty, lecherous  monsters;  oftenest  they  are  human 
spiders  who  suck  the  land  dry  of  all  fluid  wealth,  bank- 
ing it  abroad  against  the  day  when  they  shall  fly  before 
the  revolutionary  blast  to  the  safe  haven  of  Paris  and 
the  congenial  debaucheries  of  Montmartre.  The  mil- 
lions amassed  by  tyrants  like  Castro  of  Venezuela  and 
Zelaya  of  Nicaragua  are  almost  beyond  belief,  consider- 
ing the  backward,  bankrupt  lands  they  have  "ad- 
ministered." 

Yet  how  can  it  be  otherwise?  Consider  Critch- 
field's  incisive  account  of  a  caudillo's  accession  to 
power:  "When  an  ignorant  and  brutal  man,  whose 
entire  knowledge  of  the  world  is  confined  to  a  few 
Indian  villages,  and  whose  total  experience  has  been 
gained  in  the  raising  of  cattle,  doffs  his  alpagartes, 
and,  machete  in  hand,  cuts  his  way  to  power  in  a  few 
weeks,  with  a  savage  horde  at  his  back  who  know 
nothing  of  the  amenities  of  civilization  and  care  less 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  123 

than  they  know — when  such  a  man  comes  to  power,  evil 
and  evil  only  can  result.  Even  if  the  new  dictator  were 
well-intentioned,  his  entire  ignorance  of  law  and  con- 
stitutional forms,  of  commercial  processes  and  manu- 
facturing arts,  and  of  the  fundamental  and  necessary 
principles  underlying  all  stable  and  free  governments, 
would  render  a  successful  administration  by  him  ex- 
tremely difficult,  if  not  impossible.  But  he  is  sur- 
rounded by  all  the  elements  of  vice  and  flattery,  and 
he  is  imbued  with  that  vain  and  absurd  egotism  which 
makes  men  of  small  caliber  imagine  themselves  to  be 
o  Napoleons  or  Csesars.  Thus  do  petty  despotisms,  un- 
restrained by  constitutional  provisions  or  by  anything 
like  a  virile  public  opinion,  lead  from  absurdity  to 
outrage  and  crime." 1 

;  Such  is  the  situation  in  mongrel-ruled  America: v 
revolution  breeding  revolution,  tyranny  breeding  tyr- 
anny, and  the  twain  combining  to  ruin  their  victims 
and  force  them  ever  deeper  into  the  slough  of  degener- 
ate barbarism.)  The  whites  have  lost  their  grip  and  are 
rapidly  disappearing.  The  mixed-breeds  have  had 
their  chance  and  have  grotesquely  failed.  The  oft- 
quoted  panacea — white  immigration — is  under  present 
conditions  a  vain  dream,  for  white  immigrants  will  not 
expose  themselves  (and  still  less  their  women)  to  the 
horrors  of  mongrel  rule.  So  far,  then,  as  internal  fac- 
tors are  concerned,  anarchy  seems  destined  to  continue 
unchecked. 

1G.  W.  Critchfield,  "American  Supremacy,"  voL  I,  p.  277  (Ne^v 
York,  1908). 


124    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

In  fact,  new  conflicts  loom  on  the  horizon.  The 
Indian  masses,  so  docile  to  the  genuine  white  man,  be- 
gin to  stir.  The  aureole  of  white  prestige  has  been 
besmirched  by  the  near-whites  and  half-castes  who  have 
traded  so  recklessly  upon  its  sanctions.  Strong  in  the 
poise  of  normal  hereolity,  the  Indian  full-blood  com- 
mences to  despise  these  chaotic  masters  who  turn  his 
homelands  into  bear-gardens  and  witches'  sabbaths. 
An  "Indianista"  movement  is  to-day  on  foot  through- 
out mongrel-ruled  America.  It  is  most  pronounced 
in  Mexico,  whose  interminable  agony  becomes  more  and 
more  a  war  of  Indian  resurgence,  but  it  is  also  starting 
along  the  west  coast  of  South  America.  Long  ago,  wise 
old  Professor  Pearson  saw  how  the  wind  was  blowing. 
Noting  how  whites  and  near-whites  were  "everywhere 
fighting  and  intriguing  for  the  spoils  of  office,"  he  also 
noted  that  the  Indian  masses,  though  relatively  passive 
and  "seemingly  unobservant,"  were  yet  "conquering 
a  place  for  themselves  in  other  ways  than  by  increas- 
ing and  multiplying,"  and  he  concluded:  "the  general 
level  of  the  autochthonous  race  is  being  raised;  it  is 
acquiring  riches  and  self-respect,  and  must  sooner  or 
later  get  the  country  back  into  its  hands."1  Recent 
visitors  to  the  South  American  west  coast  note  the  signs 
of  Indian  unrest.  Some  years  ago  Lord  Bryce  re- 
marked of  Bolivia:  "There  have  been  Indian  risings, 
and  firearms  are  more  largely  in  their  hands  than  for- 
merly. They  so  preponderate  in  'numbers  that  any 
movement  which  united  them  against  the  upper  class 

1  Pearson,  op.  cit.t  p.  60. 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  125 

might,  could  they  find  a  leader,  have  serious  conse- 
quences."1 Still  more  recently  Professor  Ross  wrote 
concerning  Peru:  "In  Cuzco  I  met  a  gentleman  of 
education  and  travel  who  is  said  to  be  the  only  living 
lineal  descendant  of  the  Incas.  He  has  great  influence 
with  the  native  element  and  voices  their  bitterness  and 
their  aspirations.  He  declares  that  the  politics  of 
Peru  is  a  struggle  between  the  Spanish  mestizos  of 
Lima  and  the  coast  and  the  natives  of  Cuzco  and  the 
interior,  and  predicts  an  uprising  unless  Cuzco  is  made 
the  capital  of  the  nation.  He  even  dreams  of  a  Kechua 
republic,  with  Cuzco  as  its  capital  and  the  United 
States  its  guarantor,  as  she  is  guarantor  of  the  Cuban 
republic."2  And  of  Bolivia,  Professor  Ross  writes: 
"Lately  there  has  been  a  general  movement  of  the 
Bolivian  Indians  for  the  recovery  of  the  lands  of  which 
they  have  been  robbed  piecemeal.  Conflicts  have 
broken  out  and,  although  the  government  has  punished 
the  ringleaders,  there  is  a  feeling  that,  so  long  as  the 
exploiting  of  the  Indian  goes  on,  Bolivians  are  living 
'in  the  crater  of  a  slumbering  volcano/"3 

Since  the  white  man  has  gone  and  the  Indian  is  pre- 
paring to  wrest  the  sceptre  of  authority  from  the  mon- 
grel's worthless  hands,  let  us  examine  this  Indian  race, 
to  see  what  potentiality  it  possesses  of  restoring  order 
and  initiating  progress. 

To  begin  with,  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  Indian  » 
is  superior  to  the  negro.    The  negro,  even  when  quick- 


V 


1  James  Bryce,  "South  America,"  p.  181  (London,  1912). 

2  Ross,  op.  tit.,  p.  74.  *  Ross,  p.  89. 


126    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

ened  by  foreign  influences;  never  built  up  anything  ap- 
proaching a  real  civilization;  whereas  the  Indian, 
though  entirely  sundered  from  the  rest  of  mankind, 
evolved  genuine  polities  and  cultures  like  the  Aztec 
of  Mexico,  the  Inca  of  Peru,  and  the  Maya  of  Yucatan. 
J  The  Indian  thus  possesses  creative  capacity  to  an  ap- 
preciable degree.  However,  that  degree  seems  strictly 
limited.  The  researches  of  archaeologists  have  sadly 
discounted  the  glowing  tales  of  the  Conquistadores,  and 
the  "Empires"  of  Mexico  and  Peru,  though  far  from 
contemptible,  certainly  rank  well  below  the  achieve- 
ments of  European  and  Asiatic  races  in  mediaeval  and 
even  in  classic  times. 

The  Indian  possesses  notable  stability  and  poise, 
but  the  very  intensity  of  these  qualities  fetters  his 
progress  and  renders  questionable  his  ability  to  rise 
to  the  modern  plane.  His  conservatism  is  immense. 
With  incredible  tenacity  he  clings  to  his  ancestral 
ways  and  exhibits  a  dull  indifference  to  alien  innova- 
tion. Of  course  the  Indian  sub-races  differ  con- 
siderably among  themselves,  but  the  same  funda- 
mental tendencies  are  visible  in  all  of  them.  Says 
Professor  Ellsworth  Huntington:  "The  Indians  are 
very  backward.  They  are  dull  of  mind  and  slow  to 
adopt  new  ideas.  Perhaps  in  the  future  they  will 
change,  but  the  fact  that  they  have  been  influenced  so 
little  by  four  hundred  years  of  contact  with  the  white 
man  does  not  afford  much  ground  for  hope.  Judging 
from  the  past,  there  is  no  reason  to  think  that  their 
character  is  likely  to  change  for  many  generatioi 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  127 

Those  who  dwell  permanently  in  the  white  man's 
cities  are  influenced  somewhat,  but  here  as  in  other 
cases  the  general  tendency  seems  to  be  to  revert  to  the 
original  condition  as  soon  as  the  special  impetus  of 
immediate  contact  with  the  white  man  is  removed."1 
And  Lord  Bryce  writes  in  similar  vein:  "With  plenty 
of  stability,  they  lack  initiative.  They  make  steady 
soldiers,  and  fight  well  under  white  or  mestizo  leaders, 
but  one  seldom  hears  of  a  pure  Indian  accomplishing 
anything  or  rising  either  through  war  or  politics,  or  in 
any  profession,  above  the  level  of  his  class.  .  .  ."2 

The  truth  about  the  Indian  seems  to  be  substan- 
tially this:  Left  alone,  he  would  probably  have  con- 
to  progress,  albeit  much  more  slowly  than  either 
te  or  Asiatic  peoples.  But  the  Indian  was  not  left 
alone.  On  the  contrary,  he  was  suddenly  felled  by 
brutal  and  fanatical  conquerors,  who  uprooted  his 
native  culture  and  plunged  him  into  abject  servitude. 
The  Indian's  spiritual  past  was  shorn  away  and  his 
evolution  was  perverted.  Prevented  from  develop- 
ing along  his  own  lines,  and  constitutionally  incapable 
of  adapting  himself  to  the  ways  of  his  Spanish  con- 
querors, the  Indian  vegetated,  learning  nothing  and 
forgetting  much  that  he  knew.  This  has  continued  for 
four  hundred  years.  Is  it  not  likely  that  his  ancestral 
aptitudes  have  atrophied  or  decayed?  Slavery  and 
mental  sloth  have  indeed  scarred  him  with  their  fell 


1  Ellsworth  Huntington,  "The  Adaptability  of  the  White  Man  t» 
Tropical  America,"  Journal  of  Race  Development,  October,  1914. 

2  Bryce,  op.  cit.,  p.  184. 


whi 


128    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

stigmata.  Says  Garcia-Calderon:  "  Without  sufficient 
food,  without  hygiene,  a  distracted  and  laborious  beast, 
he  decays  and  perishes;  to  forget  the  misery  of  his 
daily  lot  he  drinks,  becomes  an  alcoholic,  and  his 
numerous  progeny  present  the  characteristics  of  de- 
generacy/71 

Furthermore,  the  Indian  degenerates  from  another 
cause — mongrelization.  )  Miscegenation  is  a  dual  proc- 
ess. It  works  upward  and  downward  at  one  and  the 
same  time;  In  Latin  America  hybridization  has  been 
prodigious,  the  hybrids  to-day  numbering  millions. 
In  some  regions,  as  in  Venezuela  and  parts  of  Central 
America,  there  are  very  few  full-blooded  Indians  left, 
hybrids  forming  practically  the  entire  population. 
Now,  on  the  whole,  the  white  or  "mestizo"  crossing 
seems  hurtful  to  the  Indian,  for  what  he  gains  in  intelli- 
gence he  more  than  loses  in  character.  But  the  mestizo 
crossing  is  not  the  worst.  There  is  another,  much 
graver,  racial  danger.  The  hot  coastlands  swarm  with 
negroes,  and  the  zambo  or  negro-Indian  is  universally 
adjudged  the  worst  of  matings.  Thus,  for  the  Indian, 
white  blood  appears  harmful,  while  black  blood  is 
absolutely  fatal.  Yet  the  mongrelizing  tide  sweeps 
steadily  on.  The  Indian  draws  no  "color  line/7  and 
continually  impairs  the  purity  of  his  blood  and  the 
poise  of  his  heredity. 

Bearing  all  the  above  facts  in  mind,  can  we  believe 
the  Indian  capable  of  drawing  mongrel-ruled  America 
from  its  slough  of  despond  ?  Can  he  set  it'on  the  path 

1  Garcia-Calderon,  p.  354. 


RED   MAN'S   LAND  129 

of  orderly  progress?  It  does  not  seem  possible.  As- 
suming for  the  sake  of  argument  complete  freedom  from 
foreign  intervention,  the  Indian  might  in  time  displace 
his  mongrel  rulers — provided  he  himself  were  not  also 
mongrelized.  But  the  present "  Indianista  "  movement 
is  not  a  sign  of  Indian  political  efficiency;  not  the  har- 
binger of  an  Indian  " renaissance."  It  is  the  instinc- 
tive turning  of  the  harried  beast  on  his  tormentor. 
Maddened  by  the  cruel  vagaries  of  mongrel  rule  and 
increasingly  conscious  of  the  mongrel's  innate  worth- 
lessness,  the  Indian  at  last  bares  his  teeth.  Under 
civilized  white  tutelage  the  "Indianista"  movement 
would  have  been  practically  inconceivable. 

However,  guesses  as  to  the  final  outcome  of  an  In- 
dian-mongrel conflict  are  academic  speculation,  be- 
cause mongrel  America  will  not  be  left  to  itself.  Mon- 
grel America  cannot  stand  alone.  Indeed,  it  never  has 
stood  alone,  for  it  has  always  been  bolstered  up  by  the 
Monroe  Doctrine.  But  for  our  protection,  outside 
forces  would  have  long  since  rushed  into  this  political 
and  economic  vacuum,  and  every  omen  to-day  denotes 
that  this  vacuum,  Eke  all  others,  will  presently  be  filled. 
,  A  world  close  packed  as  never  before  will  not  tolerate 
countries  that  are  a  torment  to  themselves  and  a 
dangerous  nuisance  to  their  neighbors.  A  world  half 
bankrupt  will  not  allow  vast  sources  of  potential  wealth 
to  lie  in  hands  which  idle  or  misuse.  Thus  it  is  prac- 
tically certain  that  mongrel  America  will  presently 
pass  under  foreign  tutelage.  Exactly  how,  is  not  yet 
clear.  It  may  be  done  by  the  United  States  alone, 


130    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

or,  what  is  more  probable,  in  "Pan-American"  co- 
operation with  the  lusty  young  white  nations  of  the 
antipodean  south.  It  may  be  done  by  an  even  larger 
combination,  including  some  European  states.  After 
all,  the  details  of  such  action  do  not  lie  within  the  scope 
of  this  book,  since  they  fall  exclusively  within  the  white 
man's  sphere  of  activity. 

There  is,  however,  another  dynamic  which  might 
transform  mongrel  America.  This  dynamic  is  yellow 
Asia.  The  Far  East  teems  with  virile  and  laborious 
life.  It  thrills  to  novel  ambitions  and  desires.  Avid 
with  the  urge  of  swarming  myriads,  it  hungrily  seeks 
outlets  for  its  superabundant  vitality.  We  have 
already  seen  how  the  Mongolian  has  earmarked  the 
whole  Far  East  for  his  own,  and  in  subsequent  pages 
we  shall  see  how  he  also  beats  restlessly  against  the 
white  world's  race-frontiers.  But  mongrel  America! 
What  other  field  offers  such  tempting  possibilities  for 
Mongolian  race-expansion?  Vast  regions  of  incal- 
culable, unexploited  wealth,  sparsely  inhabited  by 
stagnant  populations  cursed  with  anarchy  and  feeble 
from  miscegenation — how  could  such  lands  resist  the 
onslaught  of  tenacious  and  indomitable  millions  ?  The 
answer  is  self-evident.  They  could  not  resist ;  and  such 
an  invasion,  once  begun,  would  be  consummated  with 
a  celerity  and  thoroughness  perhaps  unexampled  in 
human  history. 

Now  the  yellow  world  is  alive  to  this  momentous 
possibility.  Japan,  in  particular,  has  glimpsed  in 
Latin  America  precious  avenues  to  that  racial  expan- 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  131 

sion  which  is  the  key-note  of  Japanese  foreign  policy. 
For  years  Japanese  statesmen  and  publicists  have 
busied  themselves  with  the  problem.  The  Chinese 
had,  in  fact,  already  pointed  the  way,  for  during  the 
later  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century  Chinamen 
frequented  Latin  America's  Pacific  coast,  economically 
vanquishing  the  natives  with  ease,  and  settling  in 
Peru  in  such  numbers  that  the  alarmed  Peruvians 
hastily  stopped  the  inflow  by  drastic  exclusion  acts. 
The  successes  of  these  Chinese  pioneers,  humble  coolies 
entirely  without  official  backing,  have  fired  the  Japanese 
imagination.  The  Japanese  press  has  long  discussed 
Latin  America  in  optimistic  vein.  Count  Okuma  is  a 
good  exemplar  of  these  Japanese  aspirations.  Some 
years  ago  he  told  the  American  sociologist  Professor 
Ross:  " South  America,  especially  the  northern  part, 
will  furnish  ample  room  for  our  surplus."1  To  his  fel- 
low countrymen  Count  Okuma  was  still  more  specific. 
In  1907  he  stated  in  the  Tokio  Economist  that  the 
Japanese  were  to  overspread  the  earth  like  a  cloud  of 
locusts,  alighting  on  the  North  American  coasts,  and 
swarming  into  Central  and  South  America.  Count 
Okuma  expressed  a  strong  preference  for  Latin  Ameri- 
can countries  as  fields  for  Japanese  immigration,  be- 
cause most  of  them  were  "much  easier  to  include  within 
the  sphere  of  influence  of  Japan' in  the  future."2 

And  the  Japanese  have  supplemented  words  with 
deeds.    Especially  since   1914,  Japanese  activity  in 

1  Ross,  p.  90. 

2  The  American  Review  of  Reviews,  November,  1907,  p.  622. 


132    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Latin  America  has  been  ubiquitous  and  striking.  The 
west  coast  of  South  America,  in  particular,  is  to-day 
flooded  with  Japanese  goods,  merchants,  commercial 
missions,  and  financial  agents  seeking  concessions  of 
every  kind.  Our  State  Department  has  had  to  exer- 
cise special  vigilance  concerning  Japanese  concession- 
hunting  in  Mexico. 

Japan's  present  activity  is  of  course  mere  recon- 
noitring— testings  and  mappings  of  terrain  for  possible 
later  action  on  a  more  extensive  scale.  One  thing 
alone  gives  Japan  pause — our  veto.  Japan  knows 
that  real  aggression  against  our  southern  neighbors 
would  spell  war  with  the  United  States.  Japan  does 
not  contemplate  war  with  us  at  present.  She  has  many 
fish  to  fiy  in  the  Far  East.  So  in  Latin  America  she 
plays  safe.  But  she  bides  her  time.  In  Latin  America 
itself  she  has  friends — even  partisans.  Japan  seeks  to 
mobilize  to  her  profit  that  distrust  of  the  "Yanqui" 
which  permeates  Latin  America.  The  half-castes,  in 
particular,  rage  at  our  "color  line"  and  see  in  the 
United  States  the  Nemesis  of  their  anarchic  misrule. 
They  flout  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  caress  dreams  of 
Japanese  aid,  and  welcome  Nippon 's  pose  as  the  cham- 
pion of  color  throughout  the  world. 

Japanese  activities  in  Mexico  are  of  especial  inter- 
est. Here  Japan  has  three  strong  strings  to  her  bow: 
(1)  patriotic  dislike  of  the  United  States;  (2)  mestizo 
hatred  of  the  white  "  gringo  " ;  (3)  the  Indianista  move- 
ment. In  Mexico  the  past  decade  of  revolutionary 
turmoil  has  developed  into  a  complicated  race-war  of 


i 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  133 

the  mestizos  against  the  white  or  near-white  upper 
class  and  of  the  Indian  full-bloods  against  both  whites 
and  mestizos.  The  one  bond  of  union  is  dislike  of  the 
gringo,  which  often  rises  to  fanatical  hatred.  Our 
war  against  Mexico  in  1847  has  never  been  forgotten, 
and  many  Mexicans  cherish  hopes  of  revenge  and  even 
aspire  to  recover  the  territories  then  ceded  to  us.  Dur- 
ing the  early  stages  of  the  European  War  our  military 
unpreparedness  and  apparent  pacifism  actually  em- 
boldened some  Mexican  hotheads  to  concoct  the 
notorious  "Plan  of  San  Diego."  The  conspirators 
plotted  to  rouse  the  Mexican  population  of  our  southern 
border,  sow  disaffection  among  our  Southern  negroes, 
and  explode  the  mine  at  the  psychological  moment 
by  means  of  a  "Reconquering  Equitable  Army"  in- 
vading Texas.  Our  whole  Southwest  was  to  be  re- 
joined to  Mexico,  while  our  Southern  States  were  to 
form  a  black  republic.  The  projected  war  was  con- 
ceived strictly  in  terms  of  race,  the  reconquering  equita- 
ble army  to  be  composed  solely  of  "Latins,"  negroes, 
and  Japanese.  The  racial  results  were  to  be  decisive, 
for  the  entire  white  population  of  both  our  South  and 
Southwest  was  to  be  pitilessly  massacred.  Of  course 
the  plot  completely  miscarried,  and  sporadic  attempts 
to  invade  Texas  during  1915  were  easily  repulsed. 

Nevertheless,  this  incident  reveals  the  trend  of  many 
Mexican  minds.  The  framers  of  the  "Plan  of  San 
Diego"  were  not  ignorant  peons,  but  persons  of  some 
standing.  The  outrages  and  tortures  inflicted  upon 
numerous  Americans  in  Mexico  during  recent  years 


134    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

are  further  indications  of  that  wide-spread  hatred 
which  expresses  itself  in  vitriolic  outbursts  like  the 
following  editorial  of  a  Mexican  provincial  paper, 
written  during  our  chase  after  the  bandit  Villa  in  1916: 
"Above  all,  do  not  forget  that  at  a  time  of  national 
need,  humanity  is  a  crime  and  frightfulness  is  a  virtue. 
Pull  out  eyes,  snatch  out  hearts,  tear  open  breasts, 
drink — if  you  can — the  blood  in  the  skulls  of  the  in- 
vaders from  the  cities  of  Yankeeland.  In  defense 
of  liberty  be  a  Nero,  be  a  Caligula — that  is  to  be  a 
good  patriot.  Peace  between  Mexico  and  the  United 
States  will  be  closed  in  throes  of  terror  and  barbar- 
ism."1 

All  this  is  naturally  grist  for  the  Japanese  mill. 
Especially  interesting  are  Japanese  attempts  to  play 
upon  Mexican  Indianista  sentiment.  Japanese  writers 
point  out  physical  and  cultural  similarities  between 
the  Mexican  native  races  and  themselves,  deducing 
therefrom  innate  racial  affinities  springing  from  the 
remote  and  forgotten  past.  All  possible  sympathetic 
changes  were  rung  during  the  diplomatic  mission  of 
Senior  de  la  Barra  to  Japan  at  the  beginning  of  1914. 
His  reception  in  Tokio  was  a  memorable  event.  Senor 
de  la  Barra  was  greeted  by  cheering  multitudes,  and 
on  every  occasion  the  manifold  bonds  between  the 
two  peoples  were  emphasized.  This  of  course  occurred 
before  the  European  War.  During  the  war  Japanese- 

xThe  newspaper  was  La  Reforma  of  Saltillo.  The  editorial  was 
quoted  in  an  Associated  Press  despatch  dated  El  Paso,  Texas,  June  26, 
1916.  The  despatch  mentions  La  Ref&rma  aa  "a  semi-official  paper." 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  135 

Mexican  relations  remained  amicable.  So  far  as  of- 
ficial evidence  goes,  the  Japanese  Government  has 
never  entered  into  any  understandings  with  the  Mex- 
ican Government,  though  some  Mexicans  have  hinted 
at  a  secret  agreement,  and  one  Mexican  writer,  Gu- 
tierrez de  Lara,  asserts  that  in  1912  Francisco  Madero, 
then  President,  "threw  himself  into  the  arms  of  Japan," 
and  goes  on:  "We  are  well  aware  of  the  importance  of 
this  statement  and  of  its  tremendous  international 
significance,  but  we  make  it  deliberately  with  full  con- 
fidence in  our  authority.  Not  only  did  Madero  enlist 
the  ardent  support  of  the  South  American  republics 
in  the  cause  of  Mexico's  inviolability,  but  he  entered 
into  negotiations  with  the  Japanese  minister  in  Mexico 
City  for  a  close  offensive  and  defensive  alliance  with 
Japan  to  checkmate  United  States  aggression.  When 
during  the  fateful  twelve  days'  battle  in  Mexico  City 
a  rumor  of  American  intervention,  more  alarming 
than  usual,  was  communicated  to  Madero,  he  remarked 
coldly  that  he  was  thoroughly  anxious  for  that  inter- 
vention, for  he  was  confident  of  the  surprise  the  Amer- 
ican Government  would  receive  in  discovering  that 
they  had  to  deal  with  Japan."1 
;  But,  after  all,  an  official  Japanese-Mexican  under- 
standing is  not  the  fundamental  issue.  The  really 
significant  thing  is  Mexican  popular  antagonism  to 
the  United  States,  which  is  so  wide-spread  that  Japan 
could  in  a  crisis  probably  count  on  Mexican  benevolent 

Gutierrez  de  Lara,   "The  Mexican  People:    Their  Struggle  for 
Freedom"  (New  York,  1914), 


136    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

neutrality  if  not  on  Mexican  support.  The  present 
Carranza  government  of  Mexico  is  of  course  notori- 
ously anti-American.  Its  consistent  policy,  notably 
revealed  in  its  complaisance  toward  Germany  and  its 
intrigues  with  other  anti-American  regimes  like  those 
of  Colombia  and  Venezuela,  makes  Mexico  the  centre 
of  anti-Americanism  in  Latin  America.  As  for  the 
numerous  Japanese  residents  in  Mexico,  they  have 
lost  no  opportunity  to  abet  this  attitude.  Here,  for 
instance,  is  the  text  of  a  manifesto  signed  by  prominent 
members  of  the  Japanese  colony  during  the  American- 
Mexican  crisis  of  1916 :  "Japanese :  Mexico  is  a  friendly 
nation.  Our  commercial  bonds  with  her  are  great. 
She  is,  like  us,  a  nation  of  heroes  who  will  never  con- 
sent to  the  world-domination  of  a  hard  and  brutal 
race,  as  are  the  Yankees.  We  cannot  abandon  Mexico 
in  her  struggle  against  a  nation  supposedly  stronger. 
The  Mexicans  know  how  to  defend  themselves,  but 
there  is  lacking  aid  which  we  can  furnish.  If  the  Yan- 
kees invade  Mexico,  if  they  seize  the  California  coasts, 
Japanese  commerce  and  the  Japanese  navy  will  face 
a  grave  peril.  The  Yankees  believe  us  impotent  be- 
cause of  the  European  War,  and  we  will  be  expelled 
from  American  soil  and  our  children  from  American 
schools.  We  will  aid  the  Mexicans.  We  will  aid  Mexico 
against  Yankee  rapacity.  This  great  and  beautiful 
country  is  a  victim  of  Yankee  hatred  toward  Japan. 
Our  indifference  would  be  a  lack  of  patriotism,  since 
the  Yankees  already  are  against  us  and  our  divine 
Emperor.  They  have  seized  Hawaii,  they  have  seized 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  137 

the  Philippine  Islands,  near  our  coasts,  and  are  now 
about  to  crush  under  foot  our  friend  and  possible  ally, 
and  injure  our  commerce  and  imperil  our  naval 
power."1 

The  fact  is  that  Latin  America's  attitude  toward 
the  yellow  world  tends  everywhere  to  crystallize  along 
race  lines.  The  half-castes,  naturally  hostile  to  the 
United  States,  see  in  Japan  a  welcome  offset  to  the 
"Colossus  of  the  North."  The  self-conscious  Indian- 
ista  elements  likewise  heed  Japanese  suggestions  of 
ethnic  affinity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  whites  and 
near-whites  instinctively  react  against  Japanese  ad- 
vances. Even  those  who  have  no  love  for  the  Yankee 
see  in  the  Mongolian  the  greatest  of  perils.  Garcia- 
^Calderon  typifies  this  point  of  view.  He  dreads  our 
I imperialistic  tendencies,  yet  he  reproves  those  Latin 
Americans  who,  in  a  Japanese-American  clash,  would 
favor  Japan.  "Victorious,"  he  writes,  "the  Japanese 
would  invade  Western  America  and  convert  the  Pacific 
into  a  vast  closed  sea,  closed  to  foreign  ambitions, 
mare  nostrum,  peopled  with  Japanese  colonies.  The 
Japanese  hegemony  would  not  be  a  mere  change  of 
tutelage  for  the  nations  of  America.  In  spite  of  essen- 
tial differences,  the  Latins  oversea  have  certain  com- 
mon ties  with  the  people  of  the  (United)  States:  a 
long-established  religion,  Christianity,  and  a  coherent, 
European,  Occidental  civilization./'  Perhaps  there  is 
some  obscure  fraternity  between  the  Japanese  and 
the  American  Indians,  between  the  yellow  men  of 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  September  16,  1916,  p.  662. 


138    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Nippon  and  the  copper-colored  Quechuas,  a  disciplined 
and  sober  people.  But  the  ruling  race,  the  dominant 
type  of  Spanish  origin,  which  imposes  the  civilization 
of  the  white  man  upon  America,  is  hostile  to  the  entire 
invading  East."1 

White  men  throughout  Latin  America  generally 
echo  these  sentiments.  Chile  and  Argentina  repulse 
Oriental  immigration,  and  the  white  oligarchs  of  Peru 
dread  keenly  Japanese  designs  directed  so  specifically 
against  their  country.  Very  recently  a  Peruvian, 
Doctor  Jorge  M.  Corbacho,2  wrote  most  bitterly  about 
the  Japanese  infiltration  into  Peru  and  adjacent  Bo- 
livia, while  some  years  ago  Senor  Augustin  Edwards, 
owner  of  the  leading  Chilean  periodical,  El  Mercurio, 
denounced  Count  Okuma's  menaces  and  called  for  a 
Pan-American  rampart  against  Asia  from  Behring 
Strait  to  Cape  Horn.  "Japanese  immigration,"  as- 
serted Senor  Edwards,  "must  be  firmly  opposed,  not 
only  in  South  America,  but  in  the  whole  American  con- 
tinent. The  same  remark  applies  to  Chinese  immigra- 
tion. ...  In  short,  these  threats  of  Okuma  should 
induce  the  nations  of  South  America  to  adopt  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine — an  invincible  weapon  against  the  plans 
and  intentions  of  that  'Empire  of  the  Orient/  which 
has  so  lately  risen  up  to  new  life,  and  already  mani- 
fests so  dire  a  greed  of  conquest."3  From  Central 
America  similar  voices  arise.  A  Salvadorean  writer 


1  Garcia-Calderon,  pp.  329-330. 

2  Despatch  to  La  Prensa  (New  York),  December  13,  1919. 
8  The  American  Review  of  Reviews,  November,  1907,  p.  623. 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  139 

urges  political  federation  with  the  United  States  as 
the  sole  refuge  against  the  "Yellow  Peril,"  to  avoid 
becoming  " slaves  and  utterly  insignificant";1  and  a 
well-known  Nicaraguan  politician,  Senor  Moncada,2 
writes  in  similar  vein. 

The  momentous  implications  of  Mongolian  pressure 
upon  Latin  America  are  admirably  described  by  Pro- 
fessor Ross.  "Provided  that  no  barrier  be  interposed 
to  the  inflow  from  man-stifled  Asia/'  he  says,  "it  is 
well  within  the  bounds  of  probability  that  by  the  close 
of  this  century  South  America  will  be  the  home  of 
twenty  or  thirty  millions  of  Orientals  and  descendants 
of  Orientals.  .  .  .  But  Asiatic  immigration  of  such 
volume  would  change  profoundly  the  destiny  of  South 
America.  For  one  thing,  it  would  forestall  and  frus- 
trate that  great  iinmigration  of  Europeans  which  South 
American  statesmen  are  counting  on  to  relieve  their 
countries  from  mestizo  unprogressiveness  and  misgov- 
ernment.  The  white  race  would  withhold  its  increase 
or  look  elsewhere  for  outlets;  for  those  with  the  higher 
standard  of  comfort  always  shun  competition  with 
those  of  a  lower  standard.  Again,  large  areas  of  South 
America  might  cease  to  be  parts  of  Christendom.  Some 
of  the  republics  there  might  come  to  be  as  dependent 
upon  Asiatic  Powers  as  the  Cuban  republic  is  depen- 
dent upon  the  United  States."3 

Very  pertinent  is  Professor  Ross's  warning  as  to 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  December  30,  1911,  p.  1222. 
2J.  M.  Moncada,  "Social  and  Political  Influences  of   the  United 
States  in  Central  America"  (New  York,  1911). 
3  Ross,  pp.  91-92. 


140    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

the  fate  of  the  Indian  population — a  warning  which 
Indianista  believers  in  Japanese  " affinity"  should 
seriously  take  to  heart.  Whatever  might  be  the  lot 
of  the  Latin  American  whites,  Professor  Ross  points 
out  that  "an  Asiatic  influx  would  seal  the  doom  of 
the  Indian  element  in  these  countries.  .  .  .  The  In- 
dians could  make  no  effective  economic  stand  against 
the  wide-awake,  resourceful,  and  aggressive  Japanese 
or  Chinese.  The  Oriental  immigrants  could  beat  the 
Indians  at  every  point,  block  every  path  upward,  and 
even  turn  them  out  of  most  of  their  present  employ- 
ments. In  great  part  the  Indians  would  become  a 
cringing  sudra  caste,  tilling  the  poorer  lands  and  con- 
fined to  the  menial  or  repulsive  occupations.  Filled 
with  despair,  and  abandoning  themselves  even  more 
than  they  do  now  to  pisco  and  coca,  they  would  shrivel 
into  a  numerically  negligible  element  in  the  popula- 
tion."1 

Such  are  the  underlying  factors  in  the  Latin  Ameri- 
can situation.  Once  more  we  see  the  essential  instabil- 
ity of  mere  political  phenomena.  Once  more  we  see 
the  supreme  importance  of  race.  No  conquest  could 
have  been  completer  than  that  of  the  Spaniards  four 
centuries  ago.  The  Indians  were  helpless  as  sheep 
before  the  mail-clad  Conquistadores.  And  military 
conquest  was  succeeded  by  complete  political  domina- 
tion. The  Indian  even  lost  his  cultural  heritage,  and 
became  a  passive  tool  in  the  hands  of  his  white  mas- 

1  Ross,  pp.  92-93. 


RED    MAN'S    LAND  141 

ters.  But  the  Spaniard  did  not  seal  his  title-deed  with 
the  indelible  signet  of  race.  Indian  blood  remained 
numerically  predominant,  and  the  conqueror  further 
weakened  his  tenure  by  bringing  in  black  blood — the 
most  irreducible  of  ethnic  factors.  The  inflow  of  white 
blood  was  small,  and  much  of  what  did  come  lost  it- 
self in  the  dismal  swamp  of  miscegenation.  Lastly, 
the  whites  quarrelled  among  themselves. 

The  result  was  inevitable.  The  colonial  whites 
triumphed  only  by  aid  of  the  half-castes,  who  promptly 
claimed  their  reward.  A  fresh  struggle  ensued,  ending 
(save  in  the  antipodean  regions)  in  the  triumph  of  the 
half-castes.  But  these,  in  turn,  had  called  in  the 
Indians  and  negroes.  Furthermore,  the  half-castes 
recklessly  squandered  the  white  political  heritage.  So 
the  colored  full-bloods  stirred  in  their  turn,  and  a  new 
movement  began  which,  if  allowed  to  run  its  natural 
course,  might  result  in  complete  de-Aryanization.  In 
other  words,  the  white  race  has  been  going  back,  and 
Latin  America  has  been  getting  more  Indian  and 
negro  for  the  past  hundred  years. 

This  cycle,  however,  now  nears  its  end.  Latin 
America  will  be  neither  red  nor  black.  It  will  ulti- 
mately be  either  white  or  yellow.  The  Indian  is  pat- 
ently unable  to  construct  a  progressive  civilization. 
As  for  the  negro,  he  has  proved  as  incapable  in  the  New 
World  as  in  the  Old.  Everywhere  his  presence  has 
spelled  regression,  and  his  one  New  World  field  of 
triumph — Haiti — has  resulted  in  an  abysmal  plunge 


142    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

to  the  jungle-level  of  Guinea  and  the  Congo.  Thus 
is  created  a  political  vacuum.  And  this  vacuum 
unerring  nature  makes  ready  to  fill. 
^The  Latin  American  situation  is,  indeed,  akin  to 
that  of  Africa.  Latin  America,  like  Africa,  cannot 
stand  alone.  An  inexorable  dilemma  impends:  white 
or  yellow.  *  The  white  man  has  been  first  in  the  field 
and  holds  the  central  colored  zone  between  two  strong 
bases,  north  and  south,  where  his  tenure  is  the  unim- 
peachable title  of  race.  The  yellow  man  has  to  con- 
quer every  step,  though  he  has  already  acquired  foot- 
holds and  has  behind  him  the  welling  reservoirs  of 
Asia.  Nevertheless,  white  victory  in  Latin  America 
is  sure — if  internecine  discord  does  not  rob  the  white 
world  of  its  strength.  In  Latin  America,  as  in  Africa, 
therefore,  the  whites  must  stand  fast— and  stand  to- 
gether. 


PART  11 
THE  EBBING  TIDE  OF  WHITE 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  WHITE  FLOOD 

THE  world-wide  expansion  of  the  white  race  during 
the  four  centuries  between  1500  and  1900  is  the  most 
prodigious  phenomenon  in  all  recorded  history.  In 
my  opening  pages  I  sketched  both  the  magnitude  of 
this  expansion  and  its  ethnic  and  political  implications. 
I  there  showed  that  the  white  stocks  together  consti- 
tute the  most  numerous  single  branch  of  the  human 
species,  nearly  one-third  of  all  the  human  souls  on 
earth  to-day  being  whites.  I  also  showed  that  white 
men  racially  occupy  four-tenths  of  the  entire  habitable 
land-area  of  the  globe,  while  nearly  nine-tenths  of  this 
area  is  under  white  political  control.  Such  a  situation 
is  unprecedented.  Never  before  has  a  race  acquired 
such  combined  preponderance  of  numbers  and  do- 
minion. 

This  white  expansion  becomes  doubly  interesting 
when  we  realize  how  sudden  was  its  inception  and  how 
rapid  its  evolution.  A  single  decade  before  the  voyage 
of  Columbus,  he  would  have  been  a  bold  prophet  who 

lould  have  predicted  this  high  destiny.  At  the  close 
of  the  fifteenth  century  the  white  race  was  confined  to 
western  and  central  Europe,  together  with  Scandinavia 
and  the  northwestern  parts  of  European  Russia! '  The 
total  white  race-area  was  then  not  much  over  2,000,000 

145 


146    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 


square  miles — barely  one-tenth  its  area  to-d^J  And 
in  numbers  the  proportion  was  almost  as  unfavorable. 
At  that  moment  (say,  A.  D.  1480)  Engknd  could  muster 
only  about  2,000,000  inhabitants,  the  entire  population 
of  the  British  Isles  not  much  exceeding  3,000,000  souls. 
To  be  sure,  the  continent  was  relatively  better  peopled. 
Still,  the  population  of  Europe  in  1480  was  probably 
not  one-sixth  that  of  1914. 

Furthermore,  population  had  dwindled  notably  in 
the  preceding  one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  During 
the  fourteenth  century  Europe  had  been  hideously 
scourged  by  the  "Black  Death"  (bubonic  plague), 
which  carried  off  fully  one-half  of  its  inhabitants,  while 
thereafter  a  series  of  great  wars  had  destroyed  immense 
numbers  of  people.  These  losses  had  not  been  repaired. 
Mediaeval  society  was  a  static,  equilibrated  affair, 
which  did  not  favor  rapid  human  multiplication.  In 
fact,  European  life  had  been  intensive  and  recessive 
ever  since  the  fall  of  the  Roman  Empire  a  thousand 
years  before.  Europe's  one  mediaeval  attempt  at 
expansion  (the  Crusades)  had  utterly  failed.  In  fact, 
far  from  expanding,  white  Europe  had  been  continu- 
ously assailed  by  brown  and  yellow  Asia.  Beginning 
with  the  Huns  in  the  last  days  of  Rome,  continuing 
with  the  Arabs,  and  ending  with  the  Mongols  and  Otto- 
man Turks,  Europe  had  undergone  a  millennium  of 
Asiatic  aggression;  and  though  Europe  had  substan- 
tially maintained  its  freedom,  many  of  its  outlying 
marches  had  fallen  under  Asiatic  domination.  In 
1480,  for  example,  the  Turk  was  marching  triumphantly 


v 


THE    WHITE    FLOOD  147 

across  southeastern  Europe,  embryonic  Russia  was  a 
Tartar  dependency,  while  the  Moor  still  clung  to 
southern  Spain. 

The  outlook  for  the  white  race  at  the  close  of  the 
fifteenth  centuiy  thus  seemed  gloomy  rather  than 
bright.  With  a  stationary  or  declining  population, 
exposed  to  the  assaults  of  powerful  external  foes,  and 
racked  by  internal  pains  betokening  the  demise  of  the 
mediaeval  order,  white  Europe's  future  appeared  a 
far  from  happy  one. 

Suddenly,  in  two  short  years,  all  was  changed.  In 
1492  Columbus  discovered  America,  and  in  1494  Vasco 
da  Gama,  doubling  Africa,  found  the  way  to  India. 
The  effect  of  these  discoveries  cannot  be  overestimated. 
We  can  hardly  conceive  how  our  mediaeval  forefathers 
viewed  the  ocean.  To  them  the  ocean  was  a  numbing, 
constricting  presence ;  the  abode  of  darkness  and  horror. 
No  wonder  mediaeval  Europe  was  static,  since  it  faced 
on  ruthless,  aggressive  Asia,  and  backed  on  nowhere. 
Then,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye,  dead-end  Europe  be- 
came mistress  of  the  ocean — and  thereby  mistress  of  the 
world. 

No  such  strategical  opportunity  had,  in  fact,  ever 
been  vouchsafed.  From  classic  times  down  to  the 
end  "of  the  fifteenth  century,  white  Europe  had  con- 
fronted only  the  most  martial  and  enterprising  of 
Asiatics.  With  such  peoples  war  and  trade  had  alike 
to  be  conducted  on  practically  equal  terms,  and  by 
frontal  assault  no  decisive  victory  could  be  won. 
But,  after  the  great  discoveries,  the  white  man  could 


148    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

flank  his  old  opponents.  Whole  new  worlds  peopled 
by  primitive  races  were  unmasked,  where  the  white 
man's  weapons  made  victory  certain,  and  whence  he 
could  draw  stores  of  wealth  to  quicken  his  home  life 
and  initiate  a  progress  that  would  soon  place  him  im- 
measurably above  his  once-dreaded  assailants. 

And  the  white  man  proved  worthy  of  his  opportunity. 
His  inherent  racial  aptitudes  had  been  stimulated  by 
his  past.  The  hard  conditions  of  mediaeval  life  had 
disciplined  him  to  adversity  and  had  weeded  him  by 
natural  selection.  The  hammer  of  Asiatic  invasion, 
clanging  for  a  thousand  years  on  the  brown-yellow 
anvil,  had  tempered  the  iron  of  Europe  into  the  finest 
steel.  The  white  man  could  think,  could  create,  could 
fight  superlatively  well.  No  wonder  that  redskins  and 
negroes  feared  and  adored  him  as  a  god,  while  the 
somnolent  races  of  the  Farther  East,  stunned  by  this 
strange  apparition  rising  from  the  pathless  ocean, 
offered  no  effective  opposition. 

Thus  began  the  swarming  of  the  whites,  like  bees 
from  the  hive,  to  the  uttermost  ends  of  the  earth. 
And,  in  return,  Europe  was  quickened  to  intenser 
vitality.  Goods,  tools,  ideas,  men:  all  were  produced 
at  an  unprecedented  rate.  So,  by  action  and  reaction, 
white  progress  grew  by  leaps  and  bounds.  The  Span- 
ish and  Portuguese  pioneers  presently  showed  signs  of 
lassitude,  but  the  northern  nations — even  more  vigor- 
ous and  audacious — instantly  sprang  to  the  front  and 
carried  forward  the  proud  oriflamme  of  white  expan- 
sion and  world-dominion.  For  four  hundred  years 


THE    WHITE    FLOOD  149 

the  pace  never  slackened,  and  at  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  the  white  man  stood  the  indubitable 
master  of  the  world. 

Now  four  hundred  years  of  unbroken  triumph  nat- 
urally bred  in  the  white  race  an  instinctive  belief  that 
its  expansion  would  continue  indefinitely,  leading 
automatically  to  ever  higher  and  more  splendid  desti- 
nies. Before  the  Russo-Japanese  War  of  1904  the 
thought  that  white  expansion  could  be  stayed,  much 
less  reversed,  never  entered  the  head  of  one  white  man 
in  a  thousand.  Why  should  it,  since  centuries  of  ex- 
perience had  taught  the  exact  contrary?  The  settle- 
ment of  America,  Australasia,  and  Siberia,  where  the 
few  colored  aborigines  vanished  like  smoke  before  the 
white  advance;  the  conquest  of  brown  Asia  and  the 
partition  of  Africa,  where  colored  millions  bowed  with 
only  sporadic  resistance  to  mere  handfuls  of  whites; 
both  sets  of  phenomena  combined  to  persuade  the  white 
man  that  he  was  invincible,  and  that  the  colored  types 
would  everywhere  give  way  before  him  and  his  civiliza- 
tion. The  continued  existence  of  dense  colored  popu- 
lations in  the  tropics  was  ascribed  to  climate;  and  even 
in  the  tropics  it  was  assumed  that  whites  would  uni- 
versally form  a  governing  caste,  directing  by  virtue 
of  higher  intelligence  and  more  resolute  will,  and  exploit- 
ing natural  resources  to  the  incalculable  profit  of  the 
fhole  white  race.!  Indeed,  some  persons  believed  that 
the  tropics  woulcf  become  available  for  white  settlement 
as  soon  as  science  had  mastered  tropical  diseases  and 
had  prescribed  an  adequate  hygiene. 


150    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

This  uncritical  optimism,  suggested  by  experience, 
was  fortified  by  ill-assimilated  knowledge.  During 
the  closing  decades  of  the  past  century,  not  only  were 
biology  and  economics  less  advanced  than  to-day,  but 
they  were  also  infinitely  less  widely  understood,  exact 
knowledge  being  confined  to  academic  circles.  The 
general  public  had  only  a  vulgarized  smattering,  mostly 
crystallizing  about  catchwords  into  which  men  read 
their  prepossessions  and  their  prejudices.  For  in- 
stance: biologists  had  recently  formulated  the  law  of 
the  '' Survival  of  the  Fittest."  -  This  sounded  very  well. 
Accordingly,  the  public,  in  conformity  with  the  pre- 
vailing optimism,  promptly  interpreted  "fittest"  as 
synonymous  with  "best,"  in  utter  disregard  of  the 
grim  truth  that  by  "fittest"  nature  denotes  only  the 
type  best  adapted  to  existing  conditions  of  environ- 
ment, and  that  if  the  environment  favors  a  low  type, 
this  low  type  (unless  humanly  prevented)  will  win.  re- 
gardless of  all  other  considerations.  So  again  with 
economics.  A  generation  ago  relatively  few  persons 
realized  that  low-standard  men  would  drive  out  high- 
standard  men  as  inevitably  as  bad  money  drives  out 
good,  no  matter  what  the  results  to  society  and  the 
future  of  mankind.  These  are  but  two  instances  of 
that  shallow,  cock-sure  nineteenth-century  optimism, 
based  upon  ignorance  and  destined  to  be  so  swiftly 
and  tragically  disillusioned. 

However,  for  the  moment,  ignorance  was  bliss.  Ac- 
cordingly, the  fin  de  siecle  white  world,  having  parti- 
tioned Africa  and  fairly  well  dominated  brown  Asia, 


AREAS   OF  WHITE 
SETTLEMENT 


AREAS    OF  WHITE   POLITICAL   CON- 
TROL  OVER    COLORED    POPULATIONS 


AREAS   OF    MIXED   WHITE   AND 
COLORED    POPULATIONS 


COLORED    POPULATIONS    INDEPEN- 
DENT OF  WHITE  POLITICAL  CONTROL 


UNINHABITED    AREAS 


CATEGORIES  OF  WHITE  WORLD-SUPREMACY 
I  I  1 


THE    WHITE    FLOOD  151 

prepared  to  extend  its  sway  over  the  one  portion  of 
the  colored  world  which  had  hitherto  escaped  subjec- 
tion— the  yellow  Far  East.  Men  began  speaking 
glibly  of  "manifest  destiny"  or  piously  of  "the  white 
man's  burden."  European  publicists  wrote  didacti- 
cally on  "the  break-up  of  China,"  while  Russia,  be- 
striding Siberia,  dipped  behemoth  paws  in  Pacific 
waters  and  eyed  Japan. 

Such  was  the  white  world's  confident,  aggressive 
temper  at  the  close  of  the  last  century.  To  be  sure, 
voices  were  occasionally  raised  warning  that  all  was 
not  well.  Such  were  the  writings  of  Professor  Pearson 
and  Meredith  Tpwnsend.  But  the  white  world  gave 
these  Cassandras  the  reception  always  accorded  proph- 
ets of  evil  in  joyous  times — it  ignored  them  or  laughed 
them  to  scorn.  In  fact,  few  of  the  prophets  displayed 
Pearson's  immediate  certainty.  Most  of  them  quali- 
fied their  prophecies  with  the  comforting  assurance  that 
the  ills  predicted  were  relatively  remote. 

Meredith  Townsend  is  a  good  case  in  point.  The 
reader  may  recall  his  prophecy  of  white  expulsion  from 
Asia,  quoted  in  my  second  chapter.1  That  prophecy 
occurs  in  the  preface  to  the  fourth  edition,  published 
in  1911,  and  written  in  the  light  of  the  Russo-Japanese 
War.  Now,  of  course,  Mr.  Townsend's  main  thesis — 
Europe's  inability  permanently  to  master  and  assimi- 
late Asia — had  been  elaborated  by  him  long  before  the 
close  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Nevertheless,  the 
preface  to  the  fourth  edition  speaks  of  Europe's  failure 

»P.22. 


152    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

to  conquer  Asia  as  absolute  and  eviction  from  present 
holdings  as  probable  within  a  relatively  short  time; 
whereas,  in  his  original  introduction,  written  in  1899, 
he  foresaw  a  great  European  assault  upon  Asia,  which 
would  probably  succeed  and  from  which  Asia  would 
shake  itself  free  only  after  the  lapse  of  more  than  a 
century. 

In  fact,  Mr.  Townsend's  words  of  1899  so  exactly 
portray  white  confidence  at  that  moment  that  I  cannot 
do  better  than  quote  him.  His  object  in  publishing  his 
book  is,  he  says,  "to  make  Asia  stand  out  clearer  in 
English  eyes,  because  it  is  evident  to  me  that  the  white 
races  under  the  pressure  of  an  entirely  new  impulse  are 
about  to  renew  their  periodic  attempt  to  conquer  or 
at  least  to  dominate  that  vast  continent.  .  .  .  So  grand 
is  the  prize  that  failures  will  not  daunt  the  Europeans, 
still  less  alter  their  conviction.  If  these  movements 
follow  historic  lines  they  will  recur  for  a  time  upon  a 
constantly  ascending  scale,  each  repulse  eliciting  a 
greater  effort,  until  at  last  Asia  like  Africa  is  'parti- 
tioned/ that  is,  each  section  is  left  at  the  disposal  of  some 
white  people.  If  Europe  can  avoid  internal  war,  or 
war  with  a  much-aggrandized  America,  she  will  by  A.  D. 
2000  be  mistress  in  Asia,  and  at  liberty,  as  her  people 
think,  to  enjoy/'1  If  the  reader  will  compare  these 
lines  with  Mr.  Townsend's  1911  judgment,  he  will  get 
a  good  idea  of  the  momentous  change  wrought  in 
white  minds  by  Asia's  awakening  during  the  first  dec- 

1  Townsend  ("Asia  and  Europe"),  PP- 1-4. 


THE    WHITE    FLOOD  153 

ade  of  the  twentieth  century  as  typified  by  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War. 

1900  was,  indeed,  the  high-water  mark  of  the  white 
tide  which  had  been  flooding  for  four  hundred  years. 
At  that  moment  the  white  man  stood  on  the  pinnacle 
of  his  prestige  and  power.  Pass  four  short  years,  and 
the  flash  of  the  Japanese  guns  across  the  murky  waters 
of  Port  Arthur  harbor  revealed  to  a  startled  world— 
the  beginning  of  the  ebb. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  BEGINNING  OF  THE  EBiiw 

THE  Russo-Japanese  War  is  one  of  those  landmarks 
in  human  history  whose  significance  increases  with  the 
lapse  of  time.  That  war  was  momentous,  not  only  for 
what  it  did,  but  even  more  for  what  it  revealed.  The 
legend  of  white  invincibility  was  shattered,  the  veil 
of  prestige  that  draped  white  civilization  was  torn 
aside,  and  the  white  world's  manifold  ills  were  laid  bare 
for  candid  examination. 

Of  course  previous  blindness  to  the  trend  of  things 
had  not  been  universal.  The  white  world  had  had  its 
Cassandras,  while  keen-sighted  Asiatics  had  discerned 
symptoms  of  white  weakness.  Nevertheless,  so  im- 
posing was  the  white  world's  aspect  and  so  unbroken 
its  triumphant  progress  that  these  seers  had  been  a 
small  and  discredited  minority.  The  mass  of  mankind, 
white  and  non-white  alike,  remained  oblivious  to  signs 
of  change. 

This,  after  all,  was  but  natural.  Not  only  had  the 
white  advance  been  continuous,  but  its  tempo  had  been 
ever  increasing.  The  nineteenth  century,  in  particular, 
witnessed  an  unprecedented  outburst  of  white  activity. 
We  have  already  surveyed  white  territorial  gains,  both 
as  to  area  of  settlement  and  sphere  of  political  control. 
But  along  many  other  lines  white  expansion  was 

154 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    EBB    155 

equally  remarkable.  White  race-increase — the  basis 
of  all  else — was  truly  phenomenal.  In  the  year  1500 
the  white  race  (then  confined  to  Europe)  could  not 
have  numbered  more  than  70,000,000.  In  1800  the 
population  of  Europe  was  150,000,000,  while  the  whites 
living  outside  Europe  numbered  over  10,000,000.  The 
white  race  had  thus  a  trifle  more  than  doubled  its  num- 
bers in  three  centuries.  But  in  the  year  1900  the  popu- 
lation of  Europe  was  nearly  450,000,000,  while  the 
extra-European  whites  numbered  fully  100,000,000. 
Thus  the  whites  had  increased  threefold  in  the  Euro- 
pean homeland,  while  in  the  new  areas  of  settlement 
outside  Europe  they  had  increased  tenfold.  The 
total  number  of  whites  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth 
century  was  thus  nearly  550,000,000 — a  gain  in  num- 
bers of  almost  400,000,000,  or  over  400  per  cent.  This 
spelled  an  increase  six  times  as  great  as  that  of  the 
preceding  three  centuries. 

White  race-growth  is  most  strikingly  exemplified 
by  the  increase  of  its  most  expansive  and  successful 
branch — the  Anglo-Saxons.)  In  1480,  as  already  seen, 
the  population  of  England  proper  was  not  much  over 
2,000,000.  Of  course  this  figure  was  abnormally  low 
even  for  mediaeval  times,  it  being  due  to  the  terrible 
vital  losses  of  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  then  drawing  to 
a  close.  A  century  later,  under  Elizabeth,  the  popu- 
lation of  England  had  risen  to  4,000,000.  In  1900  the 
population  of  England  was  31,000,000,  and  in  1910  it 
was  35,000,000,  the  population  of  the  British  Isles  at 
the  latter  date  being  45,500,000.  But  in  the  interven- 


156    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

ing  centuries  British  blood  had  migrated  to  the  ends 
of  the  earth,  so  that  the  total  number  of  Anglo-Saxons 
in  the  world  to-day  cannot  be  much  less  than  100,- 
000,000.  This  figure  includes  Scotch  and  Scotch- 
Irish  strains  (which  are  of  course  identical  with  Eng- 
lish in  the  Anglo-Saxon  sense),  and  adopts  the  current 
estimate  that  some  50,000,000  of  people  in  the  United 
States  are  predominantly  of  Anglo-Saxon  origin. 
Thus,  in  four  centuries,  the  Anglo-Saxons  multiplied 
between  forty  and  fifty  fold. 

The  prodigious  increase  of  the  white  race  during  the 
nineteenth  century  was  due  not  only  to  territorial  ex- 
pansion but  even  more  to  those  astounding  triumphs 
of  science  and  invention  which  gave  the  race  unprece- 
dented mastery  over  'the  resources  of  nature.  This 
material  advance  is  usually  known  as  the  "industrial 
revolution."  The  industrial  revolution  began  in  the 
later  decades  of  the  eighteenth  century,  but  it  matured 
during  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  it 
swiftly  and  utterly  transformed  the  face  of  things. 

This  transformation  was,  indeed,  absolutely  unprece- 
dented in  the  world's  history.  Hitherto  man's  ma- 
terial progress  had  been  a  gradual  evolution.  With 
the  exception  of  gunpowder,  he  had  tapped  no  new 
sources  of  material  energy  since  very  ancient  times. 
The  horse-drawn  mail-coach  of  our  great-grandfathers 
was  merely  a  logical  elaboration  of  the  horse-drawn 
Egyptian  chariot;  the  wind-driven  clipper-ship  traced 
its  line  unbroken  to  Ulysses's  lateen  bark  before  Troy; 
while  industry  still  relied  on  the  brawn  of  man  and 


THE    BEGINNING    OF   THE    EBB    157 

beast  or  upon  the  simple  action  of  wind  and  waterfall. 
Suddenly  all  was  changed.  Steam,  electricity,  petrol, 
the  Hertzian  wave,  harnessed  nature's  hidden  powers, 
conquered  distance,  and  shrunk  the  terrestrial  globe 
to  the  measure  of  human  hands./  Man  entered  a  new 
material  world,  differing  not  merely  in  degree  but  in 
kind  from  that  of  previous  generations. 

When  I  say  "  Man,"  I  mean,  so  far  as  the  nineteenth 
century  was  concerned,  the  white  man.  It  was  the 
white  man's  brain  which  had  conceived  all  this,  and  it 
was  the  white  man  alone  who  at  first  reaped  the  bene- 
fits. The  two  outstanding  features  of  the  new  order 
were  the  rise  of  machine  industry  with  its  incalculable 
acceleration  of  mass-production,  and  the  correlative 
development  of  cheap  and  rapid  transportation.  Both 
these  factors  favored  a  prodigious  increase  in  popula- 
tion, particularly  in  Europe,  since  Europe  became  the 
workshop  of  the  world.  In  fact,  during  the  nineteenth 
century,  Europe  was  transformed  from  a  semi-rural 
continent  into  a  swarming  hive  of  industry,  gorged 
with  goods,  capital,  and  men,  pouring  forth  its  wares 
to  the  remotest  corners  of  the  earth,  and  drawing  thence 
fresh  stores  of  raw  material  for  new  fabrication  and 
exchange.  The  amount  of  wealth  amassed  by  the 
white  world  in  general  and  by  Europe  in  particular 
since  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  is  sim- 
ply incalculable.  Some  faint  conception  of  it  can  be 
gathered  from  the  growth  of  world-trade.  In  the 
year  1818  the  entire  volume  of  international  commerce 
was  valued  at  only  $2,000,000,000.  In  other  words, 


158    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

after  countless  millenniums  of  human  life  upon  our 
globe,  man  had  been  able  to  produce  only  that  rela- 
tively modest  volume  of  world-exchange.  In  1850 
the  volume  of  world-trade  had  grown  to  $4,000,000,000. 
In  1900  it  had  increased  to  $20,000,000,000,  and  in 
1913  it  swelled  to  the  inconceivable  total  of  $40,000,- 
000,000 — a  twentyfold  increase  in  a  short  hundred 
years. 

Such  were  the  splendid  achievements  of  nineteenth- 
century  civilization.  But  there  was  a  seamy  side  to 
this  cloth  of  gold.  The  vices  of  our  age  have  been  por- 
trayed by  a  thousand  censorious  pens,  and  there  is  no 
need  here  to  recapitulate  them.  They  can  mostly  be 
summed  up  by  the  word  "  Materialism."  That  ab- 
sorption in  material  questions  and  neglect  of  idealistic 
values  which  characterized  the  nineteenth  century 
has  been  variously  accounted  for.  But,  after  all,  was 
it  not  primarily  due  to  the  profound  disturbance 
caused  by  drastic  environmental  change?  Civilized 
man  had  just  entered  a  new  material  world,  differing 
not  merely  in  degree  but  in  kind  from  that  of  his 
ancestors.  It  is  a  scientific  truism  that  every  living 
organism,  in  order  to  survive,  must  adapt  itself  to  its 
environment.  Therefore  any  change  of  environment 
must  evoke  an  immediate  readjustment  on  the  part  of 
the  organism,  and  the  more  pronounced  the  environ- 
mental change,  the  more  rapid  and  thoroughgoing  the 
organic  readjustment  must  be.  Above  all,  speed  is 
essential.  Nature  brooks  no  delay,  and  the  dishar- 
monic  organism  must  attune  itself  or  perish. 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    EBB    159 

Now,  is  not  readaptation  precisely  the  problem 
with  which  civilized  man  has  been  increasingly  con- 
fronted for  the  past  hundred  years?  No  one  surely 
can  deny  that  our  present  environment  differs  vastly 
from  that  of  our  ancestors.  But  if  this  be  so,  the 
necessity  for  profound  and  rapid  adaptation  becomes 
equally  true.  In  fact,  the  race  has  instinctively 
sensed  this  necessity,  and  has  bent  its  best  energies  to 
the  task,  particularly  on  the  materialistic  side.  That 
was  only  natural.  The  pioneer 's  preoccupation  with 
material  matters  in  opening  up  new  country  is  self- 
evident,  but  what  is  not  so  generally  recognized  is  the 
fact  that  nineteenth-century  Europe  and  the  eastern 
United  States  are  in  many  respects  environmentally 
"newer"  than  remote  backwoods  settlements. 

Of  course  the  changed  character  of  our  civilization 
called  for  idealistic  adaptations  no  less  sweeping. 
These  were  neglected,  because  their  necessity  was  not 
so  compellingly  patent.  Indeed,  man  was  distinctly 
attached  to  his  existing  idealistic  outfit,  to  the  elabora- 
tion of  which  he  had  so  assiduously  devoted  himself  in 
former  days,  and  which  had  fairly  served  the  require- 
ments of  his  simpler  past.  Therefore  nineteenth- 
century  man  concentrated  intensively,  exclusively  upon 
materialistic  problems,  feeling  that  he  could  thus  con- 
centrate because  he  believed  that  the  idealistic  con- 
quests of  preceding  epochs  had  given  him  sound  moral 
bases  upon  which  to  build  the  new  material  edifice. 

Unfortunately,  that  which  had  at  first  been  merely 
a  means  to  an  end  presently  became  an  end  in  itself. 


160    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

Losing  sight  of  his  idealisms,  nineteenth-century  man 
evolved  a  thoroughly  materialistic  philosophy.  The 
upshot  was  a  warped,  one-sided  development  which 
quickly  revealed  its  unsoundness.  The  fact  that  man 
was  much  less  culpable  for  his  errors  than  many  moral- 
ists aver  is  quite  beside  the  point,  so  far  as  consequences 
are  concerned.  Nature  takes  no  excuses.  She  de- 
mands results,  and  when  these  are  not  forthcoming 
she  inexorably  inflicts  her  penalties. 

As  the  nineteenth  century  drew  toward  its  close  the 
symptoms  of  a  profound  malaise  appeared  on  every 
side.  Even  those  most  fundamental  of  all  factors,  the 
vitality  and  quality  of  the  race,  were  not  immune. 
Vital  statistics  began  to  display  features  highly  dis- 
quieting to  thoughtful  minds.  The  most  striking  of 
these  phenomena  was  the  declining  birth-rate  which 
affected  nearly  all  the  white  nations  toward  the  close 
of  the  nineteenth  century  and  which  in  France  resulted 
in  a  virtually  stationary  population. 

Of  course  the  mere  fact  of  a  lessened  birth-rate, 
taken  by  itself,  is  not  the  unmixed  evil  which  many 
persons  assume.  Man's  potential  reproductive  ca- 
pacity, like  that  of  all  other  species,  is  very  great. 
In  fact,  the  whole  course  of  biological  progress  has  been 
marked  by  a  steady  checking  of  that  reproductive 
exuberance  which  ran  riot  at  the  beginning  of  life  on 
earth.  As  Havelock  Ellis  well  says:  "Of  one  minute 
organism  it  is  estimated  that,  if  its  reproduction  were 
not  checked  by  death  or  destruction,  in  thirty  days  it 
would  form  a  mass  a  million  times  larger  than  the  sun. 


THE    BEGINNING    OF   THE    EBB    161 

The  conger-eel  lays  15,000,000  eggs,  and  if  they  all 
grew  up,  and  reproduced  themselves  on  the  same  scale, 
in  two  years  the  whole  sea  would  become  a  wriggling 
mass  of  fish.  As  we  approach  the  higher  forms  of  life 
reproduction  gradually  dies  down.  The  animals  near- 
est to  man  produce  few  offspring,  but  they  surround 
them  with  parental  care,  until  they  are  able  to  lead 
independent  lives  with  a  fair  chance  of  surviving. 
The  whole  process  may  be  regarded  as  a  mechanism 
for  slowly  subordinating  quantity  to  quality,  and  so 
promoting  the  evolution  of  life  to  ever  higher  stages."1 
While  man's  reproductive  power  is  slight  from  the 
standpoint  of  bacteria  and  conger-eels,  it  is  yet  far 
from  negligible,  as  is  shown  by  the  birth-rate  of  the 
less-advanced  human  types  at  all  times,  and  by  the 
birth-rate  of  the  higher  types  under  exceptionally 
favorable  circumstances.  The  nineteenth  century 
was  one  of  these  favorable  occasions.  In  the  new  areas 
of  settlement  outside  Europe,  vast  regions  prac- 
tically untenanted  by  colored  competitors  invited 
the  white  colonists  to  increase  and  multiply;  while 
Europe  itself,  though  historically  "old  country,"  was 
so  transformed  environmentally  by  the  industrial 
revolution  that  it  suddenly  became  capable  of  sup- 
porting a  much  larger  population  than  heretofore. 
By  the  close  of  the  century,  however,  the  most  pressing 
economic  stimuli  to  rapid  multiplication  had  waned 
in  Europe  and  in  many  of  the  race  dependencies. 

1  Havelock  Ellis,  "Essays  in  War-Time,"  p.  198  (American  Edition, 
Boston,  1917). 


162    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR   • 

Therefore  the  rate  of  increase,  even  under  the  most 
favorable  biological  circumstances,  should  have  shown 
a  decline. 

The  trouble  was  that  this  diminishing  human  out- 
put was  of  less  and  less  biological  value.  Wherever 
one  looked  in  the  white  world,  it  was  precisely  those 
peoples  of  highest  genetic  worth  whose  birth-rate  fell 
off  most  sharply,  while  within  the  ranks  of  the  several 
peoples  it  was  those  social  classes  containing  the  highest 
proportion  of  able  strains  which  were  contributing 
the  smallest  quotas  to  the  population.  Everywhere 
the  better  types  (on  which  the  future  of  the  race  de- 
pends) were  numerically  stationary  or  dwindling,  while 
conversely,  the  lower  types  were  gaming  ground,  their 
birth-rate  showing  relatively  slight  diminution. 

This  "disgenic"  trend,  so  ominous  for  the  future 
of  the  race,  is  a  melancholy  commonplace  of  our  time, 
and  many  efforts  have  been  made  to  measure  its  prog- 
ress in  economic  or  social  terms.  One  of  the  most 
striking  and  easily  measured  examples,  however,  is 
furnished  by  the  category  of  race.  As  explained  in 
the  Introduction,  the  white  race  divides  into  three 
main  sub-species — the  Nordics,  the  Alpines,  and  the 
Mediterraneans.  All  three  are  good  stocks,  ranking 
in  genetic  worth  well  above  the  various  colored  races. 
However,  there  seems  to  be  no  question  that  the  Nor- 
dic is  far  and  away  the  most  valuable  type;  standing, 
indeed,  at  the  head  of  the  whole  human  genus.  As 
Madison  Grant  well  expresses  it,  the  Nordic  is  "The 
Great  Race." 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    EBB    163 

Now  it  is  the  Nordics  who  are  most  affected  by  the 
disgenic  aspects  of  our  civilization.  In  the  newer  areas 
of  white  settlement  like  our  Pacific  coast  or  the  Cana- 
dian Northwest,  to  be  sure,  the  Nordics  even  now 
thrive  and  multiply.  But  in  all  those  regions  which 
typify  the  transformation  of  the  industrial  revolution, 
the  Nordics  do  not  fit  into  the  altered  environment 
as  well  as  either  Alpines  or  Mediterraneans,  and  hence 
tend  to  disappear.  Before  the  industrial  revolution 
the  Nordic's  chief  eliminator  was  war.  His  pre-eminent 
fighting  ability,  together  with  the  position  of  leader- 
ship which  he  had  generally  acquired,  threw  on  his 
shoulders  the  brunt  of  battle  and  exposed  him  to  the 
greatest  losses,  whereas  the  more  stolid  Alpine  and 
the  less  robust  Mediterranean  stayed  at  home  and 
reproduced  their  kind.  The  chronic  turmoil  of  both 
the  mediaeval  and  modern  periods  imposed  a  perpetual 
drain  on  the  Nordic  stock,  while  the  era  of  discovery 
and  colonization  which  began  with  the  sixteenth  cen- 
tury further  depleted  the  Nordic  ranks  in  Europe, 
since  it  was  adventurous  Nordics  who  formed  the  over- 
whelming majority  of  explorers  and  pioneers  to  new 
lands.  Thus,  even  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, Europe  was  much  less  Nordic  than  it  had  been 
a  thousand  years  before. 

Nevertheless,  down  to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  the  Nordics  suffered  from  no  other  notable 
handicaps  than  war  and  migration,  and  even  enjoyed 
some  marked  advantages.  Being  a  high  type,  the  Nor- 
dic is  naturally  a  "high  standard"  man.  He  requires 


164    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

healthful  living  conditions,  and  quickly  pines  when 
deprived  of  good  food,  fresh  air,  and  exercise.  Down 
to  the  close  of  the  eighteenth  century,  Europe  was 
predominantly  agricultural.  In  cool  northern  and 
central  Europe,  therefore,  environment  actually  fa- 
vored the  big,  blond  Nordics,  especially  as  against  the 
slighter,  less  muscular  Mediterranean;  while  in  the 
hotter  south  the  Nordic  upper  class,  being  the  rulers, 
were  protected  from  field  labor,  and  thus  survived  as 
an  aristocracy.  In  peaceful  times,  therefore,  the  Nor- 
dics multiplied  and  repaired  the  gaps  wrought  by 
proscription  and  war. 

The  industrial  revolution,  however,  profoundly  modi- 
fied this  state  of  things.  Europe  was  transformed 
from  an  agricultural  to  an  urbanized,  industrial  area. 
Numberless  cities  and  manufacturing  centres  grew 
up,  where  men  were  close  packed  and  were  subjected 
to  all  the  evils  of  congested  living.  Of  course  such 
conditions  are  not  ideal  for  any  stock.  Nevertheless, 
the  Nordic  suffered  more  than  any  one  else.  The 
cramped  factory  and  the  crowded  city  weeded  out 
the  big,  blond  Nordic  with  portentous  rapidity,  where- 
as the  little  brunet  Mediterranean,  in  particular, 
adapted  himself  to  the  operative's  bench  or  the  clerk's 
stool,  prospered — and  reproduced  his  kind. 

The  result  of  these  new  handicaps,  combined  with 
the  continuance  of  the  traditional  handicaps  (war 
and  migration),  has  been  a  startling  decrease  of  Nor- 
dics all  over  Europe  throughout  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, with  a  corresponding  resurgence  of  the  Alpine, 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    EBB     165 

and  still  more  of  the  Mediterranean,  elements.  In 
the  United  States  it  has  been  the  same  story.  Our 
country,  originally  settled  almost  exclusively  by  Nor- 
dics, was  toward  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century 
invaded  by  hordes  of  immigrant  Alpines  and  Mediter- 
raneans, not  to  mention  Asiatic  elements  like  Levan- 
tines and  Jews.  As  a  result,  the  Nordic  native  Amer- 
ican has  been  crowded  out  with  amazing  rapidity  by 
these  swarming,  prolific  aliens,  and  after  two  short 
generations  he  has  in  many  of  our  urban  areas  become 
almost  extinct. 

The  racial  displacements  induced  by  a  changed  eco- 
nomic or  social  environment  are,  indeed,  almost  incalcu- 
lable. Contrary  to  the  popular  belief,  nothing  is  more 
umtabk  than  the  ethnic  make-up  of  a  people.  Above 
all,  there  is  no  more  absurd  fallacy  than  the  shibboleth 
of  the  "  melt  ing-pot."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  melt- 
ing-pot may  mix  but  does  not  melt.  Each  race-type, 
formed  ages  ago,  and  "set"  by  millenniums  of  isolation 
and  inbreeding,  is  a  stubbornly  persistent  entity.  Each 
type  possesses  a  special  set  of  characters:  not  merely 
the  physical  characters  visible  to  the  naked  eye,  but 
moral,  intellectual,  and  spiritual  characters  as  well. 
All  these  characters  are  transmitted  substantially 
unchanged  from  generation  to  generation.  To  be 
sure,  where  members  of  the  same  race-stock  inter- 
marry (as  English  and  Swedish  Nordics,  or  French 
and  British  Mediterraneans),  there  seems  to  be  genuine 
amalgamation.  In  most  other  cases,  however,  the  re- 
sult is  not  a  blend  but  a  mechanical  mixture.  Where 


166    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

the  parent  stocks  are  very  diverse,  as  in  matings  be- 
tween whites,  negroes,  and  Amerindians,  the  offspring 
is  a  mongrel — a  walking  chaos,  so  consumed  by  his 
jarring  heredities  that  he  is  quite  worthless.  We  have 
already  viewed  the  mongrel  and  his  works  in  Latin 
America. 

Such  are  the  two  extremes.  Where  intermarriage 
takes  place  between  stocks  relatively  near  together, 
as  in  crossings  between  the  main  divisions  of  the  white 
species,  the  result  may  not  be  bad,  and  is  sometimes 
distinctly  good.  Nevertheless,  there  is  no  true  amal- 
gamation. The  different  race-characters  remain  dis- 
tinct in  the  mixed  offspring.  If  the  race-types  have 
generally  intermarried,  the  country  is  really  occupied 
by  two  or  more  races,  the  races  always  tending  to  sort 
themselves  out  again  as  pure  types  by  Mendelian  in- 
heritance. Now  one  of  these  race-types  will  be  favored 
by  the  environment,  and  it  will  accordingly  tend  to 
gain  at  the  other's  expense,  while  conversely  the  other 
types  will  tend  to  be  bred  out  and  to  disappear.  Some- 
times a  modification  of  the  environment  through  social 
changes  will  suddenly  reverse  this  process  and  will 
penalize  a  hitherto  favored  type.  We  then  witness  a 
"resurgence,"  or  increase,  of  the  previously  submerged 
element. 

A  striking  instance  of  this  is  going  on  in  England. 
England  is  inhabited  by  two  race-stocks—Nordics 
and  Mediterraneans.  Down  to  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, England,  being  an  agricultural  country  with  a 
cool  climate,  favored  the  Nordics,  and  but  for  the 


THE    BEGINNING    OF    THE    EBB     167 

Nordic  handicaps  of  war  and  migration  the  Mediter- 
raneans might  have  been  entirely  eliminated.  Two 
hundred  years  ago  the  Mediterranean  element  in  Eng- 
land was  probably  very  small.  The  industrial  revolu- 
tion, however,  reversed  the  selective  process,  and  to- 
day the  small,  dark  types  in  England  increase  notice- 
ably with  every  generation.  The  swart  "  cockney " 
is  a  resurgence  of  the  primitive  Mediterranean  stock, 
and  is  probably  a  faithful  replica  of  his  ancestors  of 
Neolithic  times. 

Such  was  the  ominous  "seamy  side"  of  nineteenth- 
century  civilization.  The  regressive  trend  was,  in 
fact,  a  vicious  circle.  An  ill-balanced,  faulty  environ- 
ment penalized  the  superior  strains  and  favored  the 
inferior  types;  while,  conversely,  the  impoverishing 
race-stocks,  drained  of  their  geniuses  and  overloading 
with  dullards  and  degenerates,  were  increasingly  unable 
to  evolve  environmental  remedies. 

Thus,  by  action  and  reaction,  the  situation  grew 
steadily  worse,  disclosing  its  parlous  state  by  number- 
less symptoms  of  social  ill-health.  All  the  unlovely 
fin  de  siecle  phenomena,  such  as  the  decay  of  ideals, 
rampant  materialism,  political  disruption,  social  un- 
rest, and  the  "decadence"  of  art  and  literature,  were 
merely  manifestations  of  the  same  basic  ills. 

Of  course  a  thoughtful  minority,  undazzled  by  the 
prevalent  optimism,  pointed  out  evils  and  suggested 
remedies.  Unfortunately  these  " remedies"  were 
superficial,  because  the  reformers  confused  manifesta- 
tions with  causes  and  combated  symptoms  instead  of 


168    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

fighting  the  disease.  For  example:  the  white  world 's 
troubles  were  widely  ascribed  to  the  loss  of  its  tradi- 
tional ideals,  especially  the  decay  of  religious  faith. 
But,  as  the  Belgian  sociologist  Rene  Gerard  acutely 
remarks,  "to  reason  in  this  manner  is,  we  think,  to 
mistake  the  effect  for  the  cause.  To  believe  that 
philosophic  and  religious  doctrines  create  morals  and 
civilizations  is  a  seductive  error,  but  a  fatal  one.  To 
transplant  the  beliefs  and  the  institutions  of  a  people 
to  new  regions  in  the  hope  of  transplanting  thither 
their  virtues  and  their  civilization  as  well  is  the  vainest 
of  follies.  .  .  .  The  greater  or  less  degree  of  vigor  in  a 
people  depends  on  the  power  of  its  vital  instinct,  of  its 
greater  or  less  faculty  for  adapting  itself  to  and  domi- 
nating the  conditions  of  the  moment.  When  the  vital 
instinct  of  a  people  is  healthy,  it  readily  suggests  to  the 
people  the  religious  and  moral  doctrines  which  assure 
its  survival.  It  is  not,  therefore,  because  a  people 
possesses  a  definite  belief  that  it  is  healthy  and  vigor- 
ous, but  rather  because  the  people  is  healthy  and  vigor- 
ous that  it  adopts  or  invents  the  belief  which  is  useful 
to  itself.  In  this  way,  it  is  not  because  it  ceases  to 
believe  that  it  falls  into  decay,  it  is  because  it  is  in 
decay  that  it  abandons  the  fertile  dream  of  its  ancestors 
without  replacing  this  by  a  new  dream,  equally  forti- 
fying and  creative  of  energy."1 

Thus  we  return  once  more  to  the  basic  principle  of 
race.    For  what  is  "vital  instinct"  but  the  imperious 


Gerard,    "Civilization   in   Danger,"    The   Hibbert   Journal, 
January,  1912. 


THE    BEGINNING    OF   THE    EBB    169 

urge  of  superior  heredity?  As  Madison  Grant  well 
says:  "The  lesson  is  always  the  same,  namely,  that  race 
is  everything,  f  Without  race  there  can  be  nothing  ex- 
cept the  slave  wearing  his  master's  clothes,  stealing  his 
master's  proud  name,  adopting  his  master's  tongue, 
and  living  in  the  crambling  ruins  of  his  master's 
palace."1 

The  disastrous  consequences  of  failure  to  realize 
this  basic  truth  is  nowhere  more  strikingly  exemplified 
than  in  the  field  of  white  world-politics  during  the  half- 
century  preceding  the  Great  War.  That  period  was 
dominated  by  two  antithetical  schools  of  political 
thinking:  national-imperialism  and  internationalism. 
Swayed  by  the  ill-balanced  spirit  of  the  times,  both 
schools  developed  extremist  tendencies;  the  former 
producing  such  monstrous  aberrations  as  Pan-German- 
ism and  Pan-Slavism,  the  latter  evolving  almost  equally 
vicious  concepts  like  cosmopolitanism  and  proleta- 
rianism.  The  adherents  of  these  rival  schools  com- 
bated one  another  and  wrangled  among  themselves. 
They  both  disregarded  the  basic  significance  of  race, 
together  with  its  immediate  corollary,  the  essential 
solidarity  of  the  white  world. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  white  solidarity  has  been  one  of 
the  great  constants  of  history.  For  ages  the  white 
peoples  have  possessed  a  true  "symbiosis"  or  common 
life,  ceaselessly  mingling  their  bloods  and  exchanging 
their  ideas.  Accordingly,  the  various  white  nations 
which  are  the  face's  political  expression  may  be  re- 

1  Grant,  op.  cit.,  p.  100. 


170    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

garded  as  so  many  planets  gravitating  about  the  sun 
of  a  common  civilization.  No  such  sustained  and  in- 
timate race-solidarity  has  ever  before  been  recorded 
hi  human  annals.  Not  even  the  solidarity  of  the  yel- 
low peoples  is  comparable  in  scope. 

Of  course  the  white  world's  internal  frictions  have 
been  legion,  and  at  certain  times  these  frictions  have 
become  so  acute  that  white  men  have  been  led  to  dis- 
regard or  even  to  deny  their  fundamental  unity.  This 
is  perhaps  also  because  white  solidarity  is  so  pervasive 
that  we  live  in  it,  and  thus  ordinarily  do  not  perceive 
it  any  more  than  we  do  the  air  we  breathe.  Should 
white  men  ever  really  lose  their  instinct  of  race-soli- 
darity, they  would  asphyxiate  racially  as  swiftly  and 
surely  as  they  would  asphyxiate  physically  if  the  at- 
mospheric oxygen  should  suddenly  be  withdrawn. 
However,  down  to  1914  at  least,  the  white  world  never 
came  within  measurable  distance  of  this  fatal  possi- 
bility. On  the  contrary,  the  white  peoples  were  con- 
tinually expressing  their  fundamental  solidarity  by 
various  unifying  concepts  like  the  "Pax  Romana" 
of  antiquity,  the  "Civitas  Dei"  or  Christian  common- 
wealth of  the  Middle  Ages,  and  the  "European  Con- 
cert" of  nineteenth-century  diplomacy. 

It  was  typical  of  the  malaise  which  was  overtak- 
ing the  white  world  that  the  close  of  the  nineteenth 
century  should  have  witnessed  an  ominous  ignoring 
of  white  solidarity;  that  national-imperialists  should 
have  breathed  mutual  slaughter  while  international- 
ists caressed  visions  of  "human  solidarity"  culminating 

_ 


THE    BEGINNING    OF   THE    EBB     171 

in  universal  race-amalgamation;  lastly,  that  Asia's 
incipient  revolt  against  white  supremacy,  typified  by 
the  Russo-Japanese  War,  should  have  found  zealous 
white  sponsors  and  abetters. 

Nothing,  indeed,  better  illustrates  the  white  world's 
unsoundness  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  century 
than  its  reaction  to  the  Russo-Japanese  conflict.  The 
tremendous  significance  of  that  event  was  no  more 
lost  upon  the  whites  than  it  was  upon  the  colored 
peoples.  Most  far-seeing  white  men  recognized  it  as 
an  omen  of  evil  import  for  their  race-future.  And  yet, 
even  in  the  first  access  of  apprehension,  these  same 
persons  generally  admitted  that  they  saw  no  prospect 
of  healing,  constructive  action  to  remedy  the  ills  which 
were  driving  the  white  world  along  the  downward 
path.  Analyzing  the  possibility  of  Europe's  presenting 
a  common  front  to  the  perils  disclosed  by  the  Japanese 
victories;  the  French  publicist  Rene  Pinon  sadly  con- 
cluded in  the  negative,  believing  that  political  passions, 
social  hates,  and  national  rivalries  would  speak  louder 
than  the  general  interest.  "Contemporary  Europe," 
he  wrote,  in  1905,  "is  probably  not  ready  to  receive 
and  understand  the  lesson  of  the  war.  What  are  the 
examples  of  history  to  those  gigantic  commercial 
houses,  uneasy  for  their  New  Year's  balances,  which 
are  our  modern  nations?  It  is  in  the  nature  of  States 
founded  on  mercantilism  to  content  themselves  with  a 
hand-to-mouth  policy,  without  general  views  or  ideal- 
ism, satisfied  with  immediate  gains  and  unable  to  pre- 
pare against  a  distant  future. 


172    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

"Whence,  in  the  Europe  of  to-day,  could  conie  the 
principle  of  an  entente,  and  on  what  could  it  be  based  ? 
Too  many  divergent  interests,  too  many  rival  ambi- 
tions, too  many  festering  hates,  too  many  'dead  who 
speak/  are  present  to  stifle  the  voice  of  Europe's 
conscience. 

"However  menacing  the  external  danger,  we  fear 
that  political  rancors  would  not  down;  that  the  enemy 
from  without  would  find  accomplices,  or  at  least  un- 
conscious auxiliaries,  within.  Far  more  than  in  its 
regiments  and  battleships,  the  power  of  Japan  lies  in 
our  discords,  in  the  absence  of  an  ideal  capable  of  lift- 
ing the  European  peoples  above  the  daily  pursuit  of 
immediate  interests,  capable  of  stirring  their  hearts 
with  the  thrill  of  a  common  emotion.  The  true  'Yel- 
low Perir  lies  within  us."  * 

Re*ne*  Pinon  was  a  true  prophet.  Not  only  was  the 
"writing  on  the  wall"  not  taken  to  heart,  the  decade 
following  the  Russo-Japanese  conflict  witnessed  a  pro- 
digious aggravation  of  all  the  ills  which  had  afflicted 
white  civilization  during  the  nineteenth  century.  As 
if  scourged  by  a  tragic  fate,  the  white  world  hurtled 
along  the  downward  path,  until  it  entered  the  fell 
shadow  of — the  modern  Peloponnesian  War. 

Pinon,  "La  Lutte  pour  le  Pacifique,"  pp.  184-185. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
THE  MODERN  PELOPONNESIAN  WAR 

THE  Peloponnesian  War  was  the  suicide  of  Greek 
civilization.  It  is  the  saddest  page  of  history.  In  the 
brief  Periclean  epoch  preceding  the  catastrophe  Hellas 
had  shone  forth  with  unparalleled  splendor,  and  even 
those  wonderful  achievements  seemed  but  the  prelude 
to  still  loftier  heights  of  glory.  On  the  eve  of  its  self- 
immolation  the  Greek  race,  far  from  being  exhausted, 
was  bubbling  over  with  exuberant  vitality  and  creative 
genius. 

But  the  half-blown  rose  was  nipped  by  the  canker  of 
discord.  Jealous  rivalries  and  mad  ambitions  smoul- 
dered till  they  burst  into  a  consuming  flame.  For  a 
generation  Hellas  tore  itself  to  pieces  in  a  delirium  of 
fratricidal  strife.  And  even  this  was  not  the  worst. 
The  "peace"  which  closed  the  Peloponnesian  War  was 
no  peace.  It  was  a  mere  truce,  dictated  by  the  victors 
of  the  moment  to  sullen  and  vengeful  enemies.  Im- 
posed by  the  sword  and  infused  with  no  healing  or 
constructive  virtue,  the  Peloponnesian  War  was  but 
the  first  of  a  war  cycle  which  completed  Hellas's  ruin. 

The  irreparable  disaster  had,  indeed,  occurred:  the 
gulfs  of  sundering  hatred  had  become  fixed,  and  the 
sentiment  of  Greek  race-unity  was  destroyed.  Having 
lost  its  soul,  the  Greek  race  soon  lost  its  body  as  well. 

173 


174    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Drained  of  its  best  strains,  tha  diminished  remnant 
bowed  to  foreign  masters  and  bastardized  its  blood 
with  the  hordes  of  inferior  aliens  who  swarmed  into  the 
land.  By  the  time  of  the  Roman  conquest  the  Greeks 
were  degenerate,  and  the  Roman  epithet  "Grseculus" 
was  a  term  of  deserved  contempt. 

Thus  perished  the  Greeks — the  fairest  slip  that  ever 
budded  on  the  tree  of  life.  They  perished  by  their 
own  hands,  in  the  flower  of  their  youth,  carrying  with 
them  to  the  grave,  unborn,  potencies  which  might  have 
blessed  and  brightened  the  world  for  ages.  Nature  is 
inexorable.  No  living  being  stands  above  her  law; 
and  protozoon  or  demigod,  if  they  transgress,  alike 
must  die. 

The  Greek  tragedy  should  be  a  warning  to  our  own 
day.  Despite  many  unlikenesses,  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury was  strangely  reminiscent  of  the  Periclean  age. 
In  creative  energy  and  fecund  achievement,  surely, 
its  like  had  not  been  seen  since  "the  glory  that  was 
Greece,"  and  the  way  seemed  opening  to  yet  higher 
destinies. 

But  the  brilliant  sunrise  was  presently  dimmed  by 
gathering  clouds.  The  birth  of  the  twentieth  century 
was  attended  with  disquieting  omens.  The  ills  which 
had  afflicted  the  preceding  epoch  grew  more  acute, 
synchronizing  into  an  all-pervading,  militant  unrest. 
The  spirit  of  change  was  in  the  air.  Ancient  ideals 
and  shibboleths  withered  before  the  fiery  breath  of  a 
destructive  criticism,  while  the  solid  crust  of  tradition 
cracked  and  heaved  under  the  premonitory  tremors  of 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    175 

volcanic  forces  working  far  below.  Everywhere  were 
seen  bursting  forth  increasingly  acute  eruptions  of 
human  energy:  a  triumph  of  the  dynamic  over  the 
static  elements  of  life;  a  growing  preference  for  violent 
and  revolutionary,  as  contrasted  with  peaceful  and 
evolutionary,  solutions,  running  the  whole  politico- 
social  gamut  from  " Imperialism "  to  " Syndicalism." 
Everywhere  could  be  discerned  the  spirit  of  unrest 
setting  the  stage  for  the  great  catastrophe. 

Grave  disorders  were  simply  inevitable.  They  might 
perhaps  have  been  localized.  They  might  even  have 
taken  other  forms.  But  the  ills  of  our  civilization  were 
too  deep-seated  to  have  avoided  grave  disturbances. 
The  Prussian  plotters  of  "Weltmacht"  did,  indeed, 
precipitate  the  impending  crisis  in  its  most  virulent 
and  concentrated  form,  yet  after  all  they  were  but 
sublimations  of  the  abnormal  trend  of  the  times. 

The  best  proof  of  this  is  the  white  world's  acutely 
pathological  condition  during  the  entire  decade  pre- 
vious to  the  Great  War.  That  fierce  quest  after  alli- 
ances and  mad  piling-up  of  armaments;  those  paroxys- 
mal " crises"  which  racked  diplomacy's  feverish  frame; 
those  ferocious  struggles  which  desolated  the  Balkans: 
what  were  all  these  but  symptoms  denoting  a  con- 
suming disease  ?  To-day,  by  contrast,  we  think  of  the 
Great  War  as  having  smitten  a  world  basking  in  pro- 
found peace.  What  a  delusion !  Cast  back  the  mind's 
eye,  and  recall  how  hectic  was  the  eve  of  the  Great 
War,  not  merely  in  politics  but  in  most  other  fields  as 
well.  Those  opening  months  of  1914 !  Why,  Europe 


176    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

seethed  from  end  to  end !  When  the  Great  War  be- 
2  gan,  England  was  on  the  verge  of  civil  strife,  Russia 
was  in  the  throes  of  an  acute  social  revolt,  Italy  had 
just  passed  through  a  "red  week"  threatening 
anarchy,  and  every  European  country  was  suffering 
from  grave  internal  disorders.  It  was  a  strange, 
nightmarish  time,  that  early  summer  of  1914,  to-day 
quite  overshadowed  by  subsequent  events,  but  which 
later  generations  will  assign  a  proper  place  in  the 
chain  of  world-history. 

Well,  Armageddon  began  and  ran  its  horrid  course. 
With  the  grim  chronology  of  those  dreary  years  this 
book  is  not  concerned.  It  is  with  the  aftermath  that 
we  here  deal.  And  that  is  a  sufficiently  gloomy  theme. 
The  material  losses  are  prodigious,  the  vital  losses 
appalling,  while  the  spiritual  losses  have  well-nigh 
bankrupted  the  human  soul. 

Turning  first  to  the  material  losses,  they  are  of  course 
in  the  broadest  sense  incalculable,  but  approximate 
estimates  have  been  made.  Perhaps  the  best  of  them 
is  the  analysis  made  by  Professor  Ernest  L.  Bogert, 
who  places  the  direct  costs  of  the  war  at  $186,000,- 
000,000  and  the  indirect  costs  at  $151,000,000,000,  thus 
arriving  at  the  stupendous  total  of  $337,000,000,000. 
These  well-nigh  inconceivable  estimates  still  do  not 
adequately  represent  the  total  losses,  figured  even  in 
monetary  terms,  for,  as  Professor  Bogert  remarks: 
"The  figures  presented  in  this  summary  are  both  in- 
comprehensible and  appalling,  yet  even  these  do  not 
take  into  account  the  effect  of  the  war  on  life,  human 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    177 

vitality,  economic  well-being,  ethics,  morality,  or 
other  phases  of  human  relationships  and  activities 
which  have  been  disorganized  and  injured.  It  is 
evident  from  the  present  disturbances  in  Europe  that 
the  real  costs  of  the  war  cannot  be  measured  by  the 
direct  money  outlays  of  the  belligerents  during  the  five 
years  of  its  duration,  but  that  the  very  breakdown  of 
modern  economic  society  might  be  the  price  exacted/' l 

Yet  prodigious  as  has  been  the  destruction  of  wealth, 
the  destruction  of  life  is  even  more  serious.  Wealth 
can  sooner  or  later  be  replaced,  while  vital  losses  are, 
by  their  very  nature,  irreparable.  Never  before  were 
such  masses  of  men  arrayed  for  mutual  slaughter. 
During  the  late  war  nearly  60,000,000  soldiers  were 
mobilized,  and  the  combatants  suffered  33,000,000 
casualties,  of  whom  nearly  8,000,000  were  killed  or 
died  of  disease,  nearly  19,000,000  were  wounded,  and 
7,000,000  taken  prisoners.  The  greatest  sufferer  was 
Russia,  which  had  over  9,000,000  casualties,  while 
next  in  order  came  Germany  with  6,000,000  and 
France  with  4,500,000  casualties.  The  British  Empire 
had  3,000,000  casualties.  America's  losses  were  rel- 
atively slight,  our  total  casualties  being  a  trifle  under 
300,000. 

And  this  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  story.  The 
figures  just  quoted  refer  only  to  fighting  men.  They 
take  no  account  of  the  civilian  population.  But  the 
civilian  losses  were  simply  incalculable,  especially  in 
eastern  Europe  and  the  Ottoman  Empire.  It  is  es- 

1  Nsw  York  Times  Current  History*  December,  1919,  p.  438. 


178    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

timated  that  for  every  soldier  killed,  five  civilians  per- 
ished by  hunger,  exposure,  disease,  massacre,  or  height- 
ened infant  mortality.  The  civilian  deaths  in  Poland 
and  Russia  are  placed  at  many  millions,  while  other 
millions  died  in  Turkey  and  Serbia  through  massacre 
and  starvation.  One  item  alone  will  give  some  idea 
of  the  wastage  of  human  life  during  the  war.  The 
deaths  beyond  the  normal  mortality  due  to  influenza 
and  pneumonia  induced  by  the  war  are  estimated  at 
4,000,000.  The  total  loss  of  life  directly  attributable 
to  the  war  is  probably  fully  40,000,000,  while  if  de- 
creased birth-rates  be  added  the  total  would  rise 
to  nearly  50,000,000.  Furthermore,  so  far  as  civilian 
deaths  are  concerned,  the  terrible  conditions  prevailing 
over  a  great  part  of  Europe  since  the  close  of  1918 
have  caused  additional  losses  relatively  as  severe  as 
those  during  the  war  years. 

The  way  in  which  Europe's  population  has  been 
literally  decimated  by  the  late  war  is  shown  by  the 
example  of  France.  In  1914  the  population  of  France 
was  39,700,000.  From  this  relatively  moderate  popula- 
tion nearly  8,000,000  men  were  mobilized  during  the 
war.  Of  these,  nearly  1,400,000  were  killed,  3,000,000 
were  wounded,  and  more  than  400,000  were  made 
prisoners.  Of  the  wounded,  between  800,000  and  900,- 
000  were  left  permanent  physical  wrecks.  Thus  fully 
2,000,000  men — mostly  drawn  from  the  flower  of  French 
manhood — were  dead  or  hopelessly  incapacitated. 

Meanwhile,  the  civilian  population  was  also  shrink- 
ing. Omitting  the  civilian  deaths  in  the  northern  de- 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    179 

partments  under  German  occupation,  the  excess  of 
deaths  over  births  was  more  than  50,000  for  1914, 
and  averaged  nearly  300,000  for  the  four  succeeding 
war  years.  And  the  most  alarming  feature  was  that 
these  losses  were  mainly  due,  not  to  deaths  of  adults, 
but  to  a  slump  in  the  birth-rate.  French  births,  which 
had  been  600,000  in  1913,  dropped  to  315,000  in  1916 
and  343,000  in  1917.  All  told,  it  seems  probable  that 
between  1913  and  1919  the  population  of  France 
diminished  by  almost  3,000,000 — nearly  one-tenth  of 
the  entire  population. 

France's  vital  losses  are  only  typical  of  what  has  to 
a  greater  or  less  extent  occurred  all  over  Europe.    The  , 
disgenic  effect  of  the  Great  War  is  simply  appalling.  | 
The  war  was  nothing  short  of  a  headlong  plunge  into 
white  race-suicide.    It  was  essentially  a  civil  war  be- 
tween closely  related  white  stocks;    a  war  wherein 
every  physical  and  mental  effective  was  gathered  up 
and  hurled  into  a  hell  of  lethal  machinery  which  killed 
out  unerringly  the  youngest,  the  bravest,  and   the 
best. 

Even  in  the  first  frenzied  hours  of  August,  1914, 
wise  men  realized  the  horror  that  stood  upon  the 
threshold.  The  crowd  might  cheer,  but  the  reflective 
already  mourned  in  prospect  the  losses  which  were  in 
store.  As  the  English  writer  Harold  Begbie  then  said: 
"  Remember  this.  Among  the  young  conscript  sol- 
diers of  Europe  who  will  die  in  thousands,  and  per- 
haps millions,  are  the  very  flower  of  civilization;  we 
shall  destroy  brains  which  might  have  discovered  for 


180    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

us  in  ten  or  twenty  years  easements  for  the  worst  of 
human  pains  and  solutions  for  the  worst  of  social  dan- 
gers. We  shall  blot  those  souls  out  of  our  common 
existence.  We  shall  destroy  utterly  those  splendid 
burning  spirits  reaching  out  to  enlighten  our  dark- 
ness. Our  fathers  destroyed  those  strange  and  valu- 
able creatures  whom  they  called  'witches/  We  are 
destroying  the  brightest  of  our  angels." 1 

But  it  is  doubtful  if  any  of  these  seers  realized  the 
full  price  which  the  race  was  destined  to  pay  during 
more  than  four  long,  agonizing  years.  Never  before 
had  war  shown  itself  such  an  unerring  gleaner  of  the 
best  racial  values.  As  early  as  the  summer  of  1915 
Mr.  Will  Irwin,  an  American  war  correspondent,  re- 
marked the  growing  convictions  among  all  classes, 
soldiers  as  well  as  civilians,  that  the  war  was  fatally 
impoverishing  the  race.  "I  have  talked,"  he  wrote, 
"with  British  officers  and  British  Tommies,  with  Eng- 
lish ladies  of  fashion  and  English  housewives,  with 
French  deputies  and  French  cabmen,  and  in  all  minds 
alike  I  find  the  same  idea  fixed — what  is  to  become 
of  the  French  race  and  the  British  race,  yes,  and  the 
German  race,  if  this  thing  keeps  up?" 

Mr.  Irwin  then  goes  on  to  describe  the  cumulative 
process  by  which  the  fittest  were  selected — for  death. 

"I  take  it  for  granted,"  he  says,  "that,  in  a  general 
way,  the  bravest  are  the  best,  physically  and  spiritually. 
Now,  in  this  war  of  machinery,  this  meat-mill,  it 
the  bravest  who  lead  the  charges  and  attempt 

1  The  Literary  Digest.  August  29,  1914,  p.  346. 


THE   PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    181 

daring  feats,  and,  correspondingly,  the  loss  is  greatest 
among  those  bravest. 

"So  much  when  the  army  gets  into  line.  But  in 
the  conscript  countries,  like  France  and  Germany, 
there  is  a  process  of  selection  in  picking  the  army  by 
which  the  best — speaking  in  general  terms — go  out 
to  die,  while  the  weakest  remain.  The  undersized, 
the  undermuscled,  the  underbrained,  the  men  twisted 
by  hereditary  deformity  or  devitalized  by  hereditary 
disease— they  remain  at  home  to  propagate  the  breed. 
The  rest — all  the  rest — go  out  to  take  chances. 

"Furthermore,  as  modern  conscript  armies  are  or- 
ganized, it  is  the  youngest  men  who  sustain  the  heaviest 
losses— the  men  who  are  not  yet  fathers.  And  from 
the  point  of  view  of  the  race,  that  is,  perhaps,  the  most 
melancholy  fact  of  all. 

"All  the  able-bodied  men  between  the  ages  of  nine- 
teen and  forty-five  are  in  the  ranks.  But  the  older 
men  do  not  take  many  chances  with  death.  .  .  .  These 
European  conscript  armies  are  arranged  in  classes 
according  to  age,  and  the  younger  classes  are  the  men 
who  do  most  of  the  actual  fighting.  The  men  in  their 
late  thirties  or  then*  forties,  the  'territorials/  guard 
the  lines,  garrison  the  towns,  generally  attend  to  the 
business  of  running  up  the  supplies.  When  we  come 
to  gather  the  statistics  of  this  war  we  shall  find  that 
an  overwhelming  majority  of  the  dead  were  less  than 
thirty  years  old,  and  probably  that  the  majority  were 
under  twenty-five.  Now,  the  territorial  of  forty  or 
forty-five  has  usually  given  to  the  state  as  many  chil- 


2    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

tiren  as  he  is  going  to  give,  while  the  man  of  twenty- 
five  or  under  has  usually  given  the  state  no  children 
at  all."1 

Mr.  Irwin  was  gauging  the  racial  cost  by  the  criterion 
of  youth.  A  leading  English  scholar,  Mr.  H.  A.  L. 
Fisher,  obtained  equally  alarming  results  by  applying 
the  test  of  genius.  He  analyzed  the  casualty  lists  "filled 
with  names  which,  but  for  the  fatal  accidents  of  war, 
would  certainly  have  been  made  illustrious  for  splendid 
service  to  the  great  cause  of  life.  ...  A  government 
actuated  by  a  cold  calculus  of  economic  efficiency  would 
have  made  some  provision  for  sheltering  from  the 
hazards  of  war  young  men  on  whose  exceptional  in- 
tellectual powers  our  future  progress  might  be  thought 
to  depend.  But  this  has  not  been  done,  and  it  is  im- 
possible to  estimate  the  extent  to  which  the  world 
will  be  impoverished  in  quality  by  the  disappearance 
of  so  much  youthful  genius  and  talent.  .  .  .  The 
spiritual  loss  to  the  universe  cannot  be  computed,  and 
probably  will  exceed  the  injury  inflicted  on  the  world 
by  the  wide  and  protracted  prevalence  of  the  celibate 
orders  in  the  Middle  Ages."2 

The  American  biologist  S.  K  Humphrey  did  not 
underestimate  the  extent  of  the  slaughter  of  genius- 
bearing  strains  when  he  wrote:  "It  is  safe  to  say  that 
among  the  millions  killed  will  be  a  million  who  are 
carrying  superlatively  effective  inheritances — the  de- 
pendence of  the  race's  future.  Nothing  is  more  ab- 
surd than  the  notion  that  these  inheritances  can  be 

*  The  Literary  Digest,  August  7,  1915.  2  Ibid.,  August  11,  1917. 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    183 

replaced  in  a  few  generations  by  encouraging  the  fecun- 
dity of  the  survivors.  They  are  gone  forever.  The  sur- 
vivors are  going  to  reproduce  their  own  less-valuable 
kind.  Words  fail  to  convey  the  appalling  nature  of 
the  loss."1 

It  is  the  same  melancholy  tale  when  we  apply  the 
test  of  race.  Of  course  the  war  bore  heavily  on  all 
the  white  race-stocks,  but  it  was  the  Nordics — the 
best  of  all  human  breeds — who  suffered  far  and  away 
the  greatest  losses.  War,  as  we  have  seen,  was  always 
the  Nordic's  deadliest  scourge,  and  never  was  this 
truer  than  in  the  late  struggle.  From  the  racial  stand- 
point, indeed,  Armageddon  was  a  Nordic  civil  war, 
most  of  the  officers  and  a  large  proportion  of  the  men 
on  both  sides  belonging  to  the  Nordic  race.  Every- 
where it  was  the  same  story:  the  Nordic  went  forth 
eagerly  to  battle,  while  the  more  stolid  Alpine  and, 
above  all,  the  little  brunet  Mediterranean  either  stayed 
at  home  or  even  when  at  the  front  showed  less  fighting 
spirit,  took  fewer  chances,  and  oftener  saved  their 
skins. 

The  Great  War  has  thus  unquestionably  left  Europe 
much  poorer  in  Nordic  blood,  while  conversely  it  has 
relatively  favored  the  Mediterraneans.  Madison  Grant 
well  says:  "As  in  all  wars  since  Roman  times,  from 
the  breeding  point  of  view  the  little  dark  man  is  the 
final  winner."2 


1S.  K.  Humphrey,  "Mankind:  Racial  Values  and  the  Racial  Pros- 
pect," p.  132  (New  York,  1917). 
2  Grant,  p.  74. 


184    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Furthermore,  it  must  be  remembered  that  those 
disgenic  effects  which  I  have  been  discussing  refer 
solely  to  losses  inflicted  upon  the  actual  combatants. 
But  we  have  already  seen  that  for  every  soldier  killed 
the  war  took  five  civilian  lives.  In  fact,  the  war's 
profoundly  devitalizing  effects  upon  the  general  pop- 
ulation can  hardly  be  overestimated.  Those  effects 
include  not  merely  such  obvious  matters  as  privation 
and  disease,  but  also  obscurer  yet  highly  destructive 
factors  like  nervous  shock  and  prolonged  overstrain. 
To  take  merely  one  instance,  consider  Havelock  ElhVs 
remarks  concerning  "the  ever-widening  circles  of 
anguish  and  misery  and  destitution  which  every  fatal 
bullet  imposes  on  humanity."  He  concludes:  "It  is 
probable  that  for  every  10,000,000  soldiers  who  fall 
on  the  field,  50,000,000  other  persons  at  home  are 
plunged  into  grief,  or  poverty,  or  some  form  of  life- 
diminishing  trouble."1 

Most  serious  has  been  the  war's  effect  upon  the  chil- 
dren. At  home,  as  at  the  front,  it  is  the  young  who 
have  been  sacrificed.  The  heaviest  civilian  losses 
have  come  through  increased  infant  mortality  and 
decreased  birth-rates.  *  The  "slaughter  of  the  inno- 
cents" has  thus  been  twofold:  it  has  slain  millions  of 
those  already  alive,  and  it  has  prevented  millions  more 
from  being  born  or  conceived.  The  decreased  fe- 
cundity of  women  during  the  war  even  under  good  ma- 
terial conditions  apparently  shows  that  war's  psycho- 
logical reflexes  tend  to  induce  sterility. 

1  Ellis,  p.  32. 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    185 

An  Italian  savant,  Professor  Sergi,  has  elaborated 
this  hypothesis  in  considerable  detail.  He  contends 
that  "war  continued  for  a  long  time  is  the  origin  of 
this  phenomenon  (relative  sterility),  not  only  in  the 
absolute  sense  of  the  loss  of  men  in  battle,  but  also 
through  a  series  of  special  conditions  which  arise  si- 
multaneously with  an  unbalancing  of  vital  processes 
and  which  create  in  the  latter  a  complex  phenomenon 
difficult  to  examine  in  every  one  of  its  elements. 

"The  biological  disturbance  does  not  derive  solely 
from  the  destruction  of  young  lives,  the  ones  best 
adapted  to  fecundity,  but  also  from  the  unfavorable 
conditions  into  which  a  nation  is  unexpectedly  thrown; 
from  these  come  disorders  of  a  mental  and  sentimental 
nature,  nervousness,  anxiety,  grief,  and  pain  of  all 
kinds,  to  which  the  serious  economic  conditions  of  war- 
time also  contribute;  all  these  things  have  a  harmful 
effect  on  the  general  organic  economy  of  nations."1 

From  the  combination  of  these  losses  on  the  battle- 
field and  in  the  cradle  arises  what  the  biologist  Doctor 
Saleeby  terms  "the  menace  of  the  dearth  of  youth." 
The  European  populations  to-day  contain  an  undue 
proportion  of  adults  and  the  aged,  while  "the  younger 
generation  is  no  longer  knocking  at  the  door.  We 
senescents  may  grow  old  in  peace;  but  the  facts  bode 
ill  for  our  national  future."2 

Furthermore,  this  "dearth  of  youth"  will  not  be 


1  New  York  Times  Current  History,  vol.  IX,  p.  272;   October-Decem- 
ber, 1916. 

2  Current  Opinion,  April,  1919,  p.  237. 


186    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

easily  repaired.  The  war  may  be  over,  but  its  after- 
math is  only  a  degree  less  unfavorable  to  human  mul- 
tiplication, especially  of  the  better  kinds.  Bad  in- 
dustrial conditions  and  the  fearfully  high  cost  of  living 
continue  to  -depress  the  birth-rate  of  all  save  the  most 
reckless  and  improvident  elements,  whose  increase  is 
a  curse  rather  than  a  blessing. 

To  show  only  one  of  the  many  causes  that  to-day 
keep  down  the  birth-rate,  take  the  crushing  burden  of 
taxation,  which  hits  especially  the  increase  of  the  upper 
classes.  The  London  Saturday  Review  recently  ex- 
plained this  very  clearly  when  it  wrote:  "From  a 
man  with  £2,000  a  year  the  tax-gatherer  takes  £600. 
The  remaining  £1,400,  owing  to  the  decreased  value  of 
money,  has  a  purchasing  power  about  equal  to  £700 
a  year  before  the  war.  No  young  man  will  therefore 
\\  think  of  marrying  on  less  than  £2,000  a  year.  We  are 
thinking  of  the  young  man  in  the  upper  and  middle 
classes.  The  man  who  starts  with  nothing  does  not, 
as  a  rule,  arrive  at  £2,000  a  year  until  he  is  past  the 
manying  age.  So  the  continuance  of  the  species  will 
be  carried  on  almost  exclusively  by  the  class  of  manual 
workers  of  a  low  average  caliber  of  brain.  The  matter 
is  very  serious.  Reading  the  letters  and  memoirs  of 
a  hundred  years  ago,  one  is  struck  by  the  size  of  the 
families  of  the  aristocracy.  One  smiles  at  reading  of 
the  overflowing  nurseries  of  Edens,  and  Cokes,  and 
Fitzgeralds.  Fourteen  or  fifteen  children  were  not  at 
all  unusual  amongst  the  county  families."1 

1  Saturday  Review,  November  1,  1919,  p.  407. 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    187 

Europe's  convalescence  must,  at  the  very  best,  be  a 
slow  and  difficult  one.  Both  materially  and  spiritually 
the  situation  is  the  reverse  of  bright.  To  begin  with, 
the  political  situation  is  highly  unsatisfactory.  The 
diplomatic  arrangements  made  by  the  Versailles  Peace 
Conference  offer  neither  stability  nor  permanence.  In 
the  next  chapter  I  shall  have  more  to  say  about  the 
Versailles  Conference.  For  the  moment,  let  me  quote 
the  observations  of  the  well-known  British  publicist 
J.  L.  Garvin,  who  adequately  summarizes  the  situation 
when  he  says:  "As  matters  stand,  no  great  war  ever 
was  followed  by  a  more  disquieting  and  limited  peace. 
Everywhere  the  democratic  atmosphere  is  charged  with 
agitation.  There  is  still  war  or  anarchy,  or  both,  be- 
tween the  Baltic  and  the  Pacific  across  a  sixth  part  of 
the  whole  earth.  Without  a  restored  Russia  no  out- 
look can  be  confident.  Either  a  Bolshevist  or  reaction- 
ary or  even  a  patriotic  junction  between  Germany  and 
Russia  might  disrupt  civilization  as  violently  as  before 
or  to  even  worse  effect." 1 

Political  uncertainty  is  a  poor  basis  on  which  to 
rebuild  Europe's  shattered  economic  life.  And  this 
economic  reconstruction  would,  under  the  most  favor- 
able circumstances,  be  very  difficult.  We  have  already 
seen  how,  owing  to  the  industrial  revolution,  Europe 
became  the  world's  chief  workshop,  exporting  manu- 
factured products  in  return  for  foodstuffs  to  feed  its 
workers  and  raw  materials  to  feed  its  machines,  these 

*J.  L.  Garvin,  "The  Economic  Foundations  of  Peace,"  page  xiv 
(London,  1919). 


188    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

imports  being  drawn  from  the  four  quarters  of  the 
globe.  In  other  words,  Europe  had  ceased  to  be  self- 
sufficing,  the  very  life  of  its  industries  and  its  urban 
populations  being  dependent  upon  foreign  importa- 
tions from  the  most  distant  regions.  Europe's  pros- 
perity before  the  war  was  due  to  the  development  of 
a  marvellous  system  of  world-trade;  intricate,  nicely 
adjusted,  functioning  with  great  efficiency,  and  run- 
ning at  high  speed. 

Then  down  upon  this  delicately  organized  mechan- 
ism crashed  the  trip-hammer  of  the  Great  War,  liter- 
ally smashing  it  to  pieces.  To  reconstruct  so  intricate 
a  fabric  takes  time.  Meanwhile,  how  are  the  huge 
urban  masses  to  live,  unfitted  and  unable  as  they  are 
to  draw  their  sustenance  from  their  native  soil?  If 
their  sufferings  become  too  great  there  is  a  real  danger 
that  all  Europe  may  collapse  into  hopeless  chaos.  Mr. 
Frank  A.  Vanderlip  did  not  overstate  the  danger  when 
he  wrote:  "I  believe  it  is  possible  that  there  may  be 
let  loose  in  Europe  forces  that  will  be  more  terribly 
destructive  than  have  been  the  forces  of  the  Great 
War."1 

The  best  description  of  Europe's  economic  situa- 
tion is  undoubtedly  that  of  Mr.  Herbert  Hoover,  who, 
from  his  experience  as  inter-Allied  food  controller,  is 
peculiarly  qualified  to  pass  authoritative  judgment. 
Says  Mr.  Hoover: 

"The  economic  difficulties  of  Europe  as  a  whole  at 
the  signature  of  peace  may  be  almost  summarized  in 

1  Frank  A.  Vanderlip,  "Political  and  Economic  Conditions  in  Eu- 
rope," The  American  Review  of  Reviews,  July,  1919,  p.  42. 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    189 

the  phrase  'demoralized  productivity/  The  produc- 
tion of  necessaries  for  this  450,000,000  population  (in- 
cluding Russia)  has  never  been  at  so  low  an  ebb  as  at 
this  day. 

"A  summary  of  the  unemployment  bureaus  in 
Europe  will  show  that  15,000,000  families  are  receiving 
unemployment  allowances  in  one  form  or  another,  and 
are,  in  the  main,  being  paid  by  constant  inflation  of 
currency.  A  rough  estimate  would  indicate  that  the 
population  of  Europe  is  at  least  100,000,000  greater 
than  can  be  supported  without  imports,  and  must  live 
by  the  production  and  distribution  of  exports;  and 
their  situation  is  aggravated  not  only  by  lack  of  raw 
materials,  and  imports,  but  also  by  low  production 
of  European  raw  materials.  Due  to  the  same  low 
production,  Europe  is  to-day  importing  vast  quantities 
of  certain  commodities  which  she  formerly  produced 
for  herself  and  can  again  produce.  Generally,  in  pro- 
duction, she  is  not  only  far  below  even  the  level  of  the 
time  of  the  signing  of  the  armistice,  but  far  below  the 
maintenance  of  life  and  health  without  an  unparalleled 
rate  of  import.  .  .  . 

"From  all  these  causes,  accumulated  to  different 
intensity  in  different  localities,  there  is  the  essential 
fact  that,  unless  productivity  can  be  rapidly  increased, 
there  can  be  nothing  but  political,  moral,  and  economic 
chaos,  finally  interpreting  itself  in  loss  of  life  on  a 
scale  hitherto  undreamed  of."1 

Such  are  the  material  and  vital  losses  inflicted  by  the 

1  Herbert  Hoover,  "The  Economic  Situation  in  Europe,"  World's 
Work,  November,  1919,  pp.  98-99. 


190    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Great  War.  They  are  prodigious,  and  they  will  not 
easily  be  repaired.  Europe  starts  its  reconstruction 
under  heavy  handicaps,  not  the  least  of  these  being  the 
drain  upon  its  superior  stocks,  which  has  deprived  it  of 
much  of  the  creative  energy  that  it  so  desperately 
needs.  Those  16,000,000  or  more  dead  or  incapaci- 
tated soldiers  represented  the  flower  of  Europe's 
young  manhood — the  very  men  who  are  especially 
needed  to-day.  It  is  young  men  who  normally  alone 
possess  both  maximum  driving  power  and  maximum 
plasticity  of  mind.  All  the  European  belligerents  are 
dangerously  impoverished  in  their  stock  of  youth.  The 
resultant  handicap  both  to  Europe's  working  ability 
and  Europe's  brain-activity  is  only  too  plain. 

Moreover,  material  and  even  vital  losses  do  not  tell 
the  whole  story.  The  moral  and  spiritual  losses, 
though  not  easily  measured,  are  perhaps  even  more 
appalling.  In  fact,  the  darkest  cloud  on  the  horizon 
is  possibly  the  danger  that  reconstruction  will  be  pri- 
marily material  at  the  expense  of  moral  and  spiritual 
values,  thus  leading  to  a  warped  development  even 
more  pronounced  than  that  of  the  nineteenth  century 
and  leading  inevitably  to  yet  more  disastrous  conse- 
quences. 

The  danger  of  purely  material  reconstruction  is  of 
course  the  peril  which  lurks  behind  every  great  war, 
and  which  in  the  past  has  wrought  such  tragic  havoc. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  late  war  we  heard  much  talk 
of  its  morally  " regenerative"  effects,  but  as  the  grim 
holocaust  went  on  year  after  year,  far-sighted  moralists 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    191 

warned  against  a  fatal  drain  of  Europe's  idealistic 
forces  which  might  break  the  thin  crust  of  European 
civilization  so  painfully  wrought  since  the  Dark  Ages. 

That  these  warning  voices  were  not  without  reason  is 
proved  by  the  chaos  of  spiritual,  moral,  and  even  in- 
tellectual values  which  exists  in  Europe  to-day,  giving 
play  to  such  monstrous  insanities  as  Bolshevism.  The 
danger  is  that  this  chaos  may  be  prolonged  and  deep- 
ened by  the  complex  of  two  concurrent  factors:  spiri- 
tual drain  during  the  war,  and  spiritual  neglect  in  the 
immediate  future  due  to  overconcentration  upon 
material  reconstruction. 

Many  of  the  world's  best  minds  are  seriously  con- 
cerned at  the  outlook.  For  example,  Doctor  Gore,  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  writes:  "There  is  the  usual  depres- 
sion and  lowering  of  moral  aims  which  always  follows 
times  of  war.  For  the  real  terror  of  the  time  of  war  is 
not  during  the  war;  then  war  has  certain  very  enno- 
bling powers.  It  is  after-war  periods  which  are  the 
curse  of  the  world,  and  it  looks  as  if  the  same  were 
going  to  prove  true  of  this  war.  I  own  that  I  never 
felt  anxiety  such  as  I  do  now.  I  think  the  aspect  of 
things  has  never  been  so  dark  as  at  this  moment.  I 
think  the  temper  of  the  nations  has  degraded  since  the 
declaration  of  the  armistice  to  a  degree  that  is  almost 
terrifying."1 

The  intellectual  impoverishment  wrought  by  the 
war  is  well  summarized  by  Professor  C.  G.  Shaw. 
"We  did  more  before  the  war  than  we  shall  do  after 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  May  3,  1919,  pp.  39-40. 


192    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

it,"  he  writes.  "War  will  have  so  exhausted  man's 
powers  of  action  and  thought  that  he  will  have  little 
wit  or  will  left  for  the  promotion  of  anything  over  and 
above  necessary  repair."1 

Europe's  general  impoverishment  in  all  respects  was 
vividly  portrayed  by  a  leading  article  of  the  London 
Saturday  Review  entitled  "The  True  Destructiveness 
of  War."  Pointing  to  the  devastated  areas  of  northern 
France  as  merely  symptomatic  of  the  devastation 
wrought  in  spiritual  as  well  as  material  fields,  it  said: 

"Reflection  only  adds  to  the  effect  upon  us  of  these 
miles  of  wasted  country  and  ruined  towns.  All  this 
represents  not  a  thousandth  part  of  the  desolation 
which  the  war  has  brought  upon  our  civilization. 
These  devastated  areas  scarring  the  face  of  Europe  are 
but  a  symbol  of  the  desolation  which  will  shadow  the 
life  of  the  world  for  at  least  a  generation.  The  com- 
ing years  will  be  bleak,  in  respect  of  all  the  generous 
and  gracious  things  which  are  the  products  of  leisure 
and  of  minds  not  wholly  taken  up  by  the  necessity  to 
live  by  bread  alone.  For  a  generation  the  world  will 
have  to  concentrate  upon  material  problems. 

"The  tragedy  of  the  Great  War — a  tragedy  which 
enhances  the  desolation  of  Rheims — is  that  it  should 
have  killed  almost  everything  which  the  best  of  our 
soldiers  died  to  preserve,  and  that  it  should  have 
raised  more  problems  than  it  has  solved. 

"We  would  sacrifice  a  dozen  cathedrals  to  preserve 
what  the  war  has  destroyed  in  England.  .  .  . 

1  Current  Opinion,  April,  1919,  p.  248. 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR 

would  readily  surrender  our  ten  best  cathedrals  to  be 
battered  by  the  artillery  of  Hindenburg  as  a  ransom. 
Surely  it  would  be  better  to  lose  Westminster  Abbey 
than  never  again  to  have  anybody  worthy  to  be  buried 
there."1 

Europe  is,  indeed,  passing  through  the  most  critical 
spiritual  phase  of  the  war's  aftermath — what  I  may 
term  the  zero  hour  of  the  spirit.  When  the  trenches 
used  to  fill  with  infantry  waiting  in  the  first  cold  flicker 
of  the  dawn  for  the  signal  to  go  "over  the  top,"  they 
called  it  the  "zero  hour."  Well,  Europe  now  faces  the 
zero  hour  of  peace.  It  is  neither  a  pleasant  nor  a 
stimulating  moment.  The  "tumult  and  the  shout- 
ing" have  died.  The  captains,  kings — and  presidents 
— have  departed.  War's  hectic  urge  wanes,  losses 
are  counted,  the  heroic  pose  is  dropped.  Such  is  the 
moment  when  the  peoples  are  bidden  to  go  "over  the 
top"  once  more,  this  time  toward  peace  objectives  no 
less  difficult  than  those  of  the  battle-field.  Weakened, 
tired  Europe  knows  this,  feels  this— and  dreads  the 
plunge  into  the  unknown.  Hence  the  malaise  of  the 
zero  hour.  \ 

The  extraordinary  turmoil  of  the  European  soul  is 
strikingly  set  forth  by  the  French  thinker  Paul  Val^ry. 

"We  civilizations,"  he  writes,  "now  know  that  we 
are  mortal.  We  had  heard  tell  of  whole  worlds  van- 
ished, of  empires  gone  to  the  bottom  with  all  their 
engines;  sunk  to  the  inexplorable  bottom  of  the  cen- 
turies with  their  gods  and  their  laws,  their  academies, 

1  Quoted  from  The  Living  Age,  June  21, 1919,  pp.  722-4. 


194    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

their  science,  pure  and  applied;  their  grammars,  their 
dictionaries,  their  classics,  their  romantics  and  their 
symbolists,  their  critics  and  their  critics'  critics.  We 
knew  well  that  all  the  apparent  earth  is  made  of  ashes, 
and  that  ashes  have  a  meaning.  We  perceived,  through 
the  mists  of  history,  phantoms  and  huge  ships  laden  with 
riches  and  spiritual  things.  We  could  not  count  them. 
But  these  wrecks,  after  all,  were  no  concern  of  ours. 

"Elam,  Nineveh,  Babylon  were  vague  and  lovely 
names,  and  the  total  ruin  of  these  worlds  meant  as 
little  to  us  as  their  very  existence.  But  France,  Eng- 
land, Russia — these  would  also  be  lovely  names.  Lusi- 
tania  also  is  a  lovely  name.  And  now  we  see  that  the 
abyss  of  history  is  large  enough  for  every  one.  We 
feel  that  a  civilization  is  as  fragile  as  a  life.  Circum- 
stances which  would  send  the  works  of  Baudelaire 
and  Keats  to  rejoin  the  works  of  Menander  are  no 
longer  in  the  least  inconceivable;  they  are  in  all  the 
newspapers.  .  .  . 

"Thus  the  spiritual  Persepolis  is  ravaged  equally 
with  the  material  Susa.  Ah1  is  not  lost,  but  everything 
has  felt  itself  perish. 

"An  extraordinary  tremor  has  run  through  the  spinal 
marrow  of  Europe.  It  has  felt,  in  all  its  thinking  sub- 
stance, that  it  recognized  itself  no  longer,  that  it  no 
longer  resembled  itself,  that  it  was  about  to  lose 
consciousness — a  consciousness  acquired  by  centuries 
of  tolerable  disasters,  by  thousands  of  men  of  the  first 
rank,  by  geographical,  racial,  historical  chances  in- 
numerable. , 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    195 

"The  military  crisis  is  perhaps  at  an  end;  the  eco- 
nomic crisis  is  visibly  at  its  zenith;  but  the  intellectual 
crisis— it  is  with  difficulty  that  we  can  seize  its  true 
centre,  its  exact  phase.  The  facts,  however,  are  clear 
and  pitiless:  there  are  thousands  of  young  writers  and 
young  artists  who  are  dead.  There  is  the  lost  illusion 
of  a  European  culture,  and  the  demonstration  of  the 
impotence  of  knowledge  to  save  anything  whatever; 
there  is  science,  mortally  wounded  in  its  moral  ambi- 
tions, and,  as  it  were,  dishonored  by  its  applications; 
there  is  idealism,  victor  with  difficulty,  grievously  muti- 
lated, responsible  for  its  dreams;  realism,  deceived, 
beaten,  with  crimes  and  misdeeds  heaped  upon  it;  cov- 
etousness  and  renunciation  equally  put  out;  religions 
confused  among  the  armies,  cross  against  cross,  crescent 
against  crescent;  there  are  the  sceptics  themselves, 
disconcerted  by  events  so  sudden,  so  violent,  and  so 
moving,  which  play  with  our  thoughts  as  a  cat  with  a 
mouse — the  sceptics  lose  their  doubts,  rediscover 
them,  lose  them  again,  and  can  no  longer  make  use  of 
the  movements  of  their  minds. 

"The  rolling  of  the  ship  has  been  so  heavy  that  at 
the  last  the  best-hung  lamps  have  been  upset. 

"From  an  immense  terrace  of  Elsinore  which  extends 
from  Basle  to  Cologne,  and  touches  the  sands  of  Nieu- 
port,  the  marshes  of  the  Somme,  the  chalk  of  Cham- 
pagne, and  the  granite  of  Alsace,  the  Hamlet  of  Europe 
now  looks  upon  millions  of  ghosts.''1 

Such  is  Europe's  deplorable  condition  as  she  staggers 

1  Quoted  from  The  Living  Age,  May  10,  1919,  pp.  365-368. 


196    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

forth  from  the  hideous  ordeal  of  the  Great  War;"  her 
fluid  capital  dissipated,  her  fixed  capital  impaired,  her 
industrial  fabric  rent  and  tattered,  her  finances  threat- 
ened with  bankruptcy,  the  flower  of  her  manhood  dead 
on  the  battle-field,  her  populations  devitalized  and  dis- 
couraged, her  children  stunted  by  malnutrition.  A 
sombre  picture. 

And  Europe  is  the  white  homeland,  the  heart  of 
the  white  world.  It  is  Europe  that  has  suffered  prac- 
tically all  the  losses  of  Armageddon,  which  may  be 
considered  the  white  civil  war.  The  colored  world 
remains  virtually  unscathed,  t 

Here  is  the  truth  of  the  matter:  The  white  world 
to-day  stands  at  the  crossroads  of  life  and  death.  It 
stands  where  the  Greek  world  stood  at  the  close  of 
the  Peloponnesian  War.  A  fever  has  racked  the  white 
frame  and  undermined  its  constitution.  The  unsound 
therapeutics  of  its  diplomatic  practitioners  retard 
convalescence  and  endanger  real  recovery.  Worst  of 
all,  the  instinct  of  race-solidarity  has  partially  atro- 
phied. 

Grave  as  is  the  situation,  it  is  not  yet  irreparable, 
any  more  than  Greece's  condition  was  hopeless  after 
^Egospotami.  It  was  not  the  Peloponnesian  War 
which  sealed  Hellas' s  doom,  but  the  cycle  of  political 
anarchy  and  moral  chaos  of  which  the  Peloponnesian 
War  was  merely  the  opening  phase.  Our  world  is  too 
vigorous  for  even  the  Great  War,  of  itself,  to  prove 
a  mortal  wound. 

The  white  world  thus  still  has  its  choice.    But  it 


THE    PELOPONNESIAN    WAR    197 

must  be  a  positive  choice.  Decisions — firm  decisions 
— must  be  made.  Constructive  measures — drastic 
measures — must  be  taken.  Above  all:  time  presses, 
and  drift  is  fatal.  The  tide  ebbs.  The  swimmer  must 
put  forth  strong  strokes  to  reach  the  shore.  Else — 
swift  oblivion  in  the  dark  ocean. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  SHATTERING  OF  WHITE  SOLIDARITY 

THE  instinctive  comity  of  the  white  peoples  is,  as  I 
have  already  said,  perhaps  the  greatest  constant  of 
history.  It  is  the  psychological  basis  of  white  civiliza- 
tion. Cohesive  instinct  is  as  vital  to  race  as  gravita- 
tion is  to  matter.  Without  them,  atomic  disintegration 
would  alike  result.  In  speaking  of  race-instinct,  I  am 
not  referring  merely  to  the  ethnic  theories  that  have 
been  elaborated  at  various  times.  Those  theories 
were,  after  all,  but  attempts  to  explain  intellectually 
the  urge  of  that  profound  emotion  known  to  sociolo- 
gists as  the  "  consciousness  of  kind." 

White  race-consciousness  has  been  of  course  per- 
turbed by  numberless  internal  frictions,  which  have 
at  times  produced  partial  inhibitions  of  unitary  feeling. 
Nevertheless,  when  really  faced  by  non-white  opposi- 
tion, white  men  have  in  the  past  instinctively  tended 
to  close  their  ranks  against  the  common  foe.  One  of 
the  Great  War's  most  deplorable  results  has  been  an 
unprecedented  weakening  of  white  solidarity  which, 
if  not  repaired,  may  produce  the  most  disastrous  con- 
sequences. 

During  the  nineteenth  century  the  sentiment  of 
white  solidarity  was  strong.  The  great  explorers  and 
empire-builders  who  spread  white  ascendancy  to  the 

198 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  199 

ends  of  the  earth  felt  that  they  were  apostles  of  their 
race  and  civilization  as  well  as  of  a  particular  coun- 
try. Rivalries  might  be  keen  and  colonial  boundary 
questions  acute;  nevertheless,  hi  their  calmer  mo- 
ments, the  white  peoples  felt  that  the  expansion  of 
one  white  nation  buttressed  the  expansion  of  ah1. 

Professor  Pearson  undoubtedly  voiced  the  spirit  of 
the  day  when  he  wrote  (about  1890)  that  it  would  be 
well  "if  European  statesmen  could  understand  that 
the  wars  which  carry  desolation  into  civilized  coun- 
tries are  allowing  the  lower  races  to  recruit  their  num- 
bers and  strength.  Two  centuries  hence  it  may  be 
matter  of  serious  concern  to  the  world  if  Russia  has 
been  displaced  by  China  on  the  Amoor,  if  France  has 
not  been  able  to  colonize  North  Africa,  or  if  England 
is  not  holding  India.  For  civilized  men  there  can  be 
only  one  fatherland,  and  whatever  extends  the  in- 
fluence of  those  races  that  have  taken  their  faith  from 
Palestine,  their  laws  of  beauty  from  Greece,  and  their 
civil  law  from  Rome,  ought  to  be  matter  of  rejoicing 
to  Russian,  German,  Aiiglo-Saxon,  and  Frenchman 
alike."1 

The  progress  of  science  also  fortified  white  race-con- 
sciousness with  its  sanctions.  The  researches  of  Euro- 
pean scholars  identified  the  founders  of  our  civilization 
with  a  race  of  tall,  white-skinned  barbarians,  possessing 
regular  features,  brown  or  blond  hair,  and  light  eyes. 
This  was,  of  course,  what  we  now  know  as  the  Nordic 
type.  At  first  the  problem  was  ill  understood,  the 

1  Pearson,  pp.  14-15. 


200    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

tests  applied  being  language  and  culture  rather  than 
physical  characteristics.  For  these  reasons  the  early 
"Caucasian"  and  "Aryan"  hypotheses  were  self -con- 
tradictory and  inadequate.  Nevertheless,  the  basis 
was  sound,  and  the  effects  on  white  popular  psychology 
were  excellent. 

Particularly  good  were  the  effects  upon  the  peoples 
predominantly  of  Nordic  blood.  Obviously  typifying 
as  they  did  the  prehistoric  creators  of  white  civiliza- 
tion, Nordics  everywhere  were  strengthened  in  con- 
sciousness of  genetic  worth,  feeling  of  responsibility 
for  world-progress,  and  urge  toward  fraternal  collabora- 
tion. The  supreme  value  of  Nordic  blood  was  clearly 
analyzed  by  the  French  thinker  Count  Arthur  de  Go- 
bineau  as  early  as  1854 1  (albeit  Gobineau  employed 
the  misleading  "Aryan"  terminology),  and  his  thesis 
was  subsequently  elaborated  by  many  other  writers, 
notably  by  Englishmen,  Germans,  and  Scandinavians. 

The  results  of  all  this  were  plainly  apparent  by  the 
closing  years  of  the  nineteenth  century.  Quickened 
Nordic  race-consciousness  played  an  important  part 
in  stimulating  Anglo-American  fraternization,  and  in- 
duced acts  like  the  Oxford  Scholarship  legacy  of  Cecil 
Rhodes.  The  trend  of  this  movement,  though  cross- 
cut by  nationalistic  considerations,  was  clearly  in  the 
direction  of  a  Nordic  entente — a  Pan-Nordic  syndica- 
tion of  power  for  the  safeguarding  of  the  race-heritage 
and  the  harmonious  evolution  of  the  whole  white  world. 

'His  book  "De  1'Inegalite  des  Races  Humainee"  first  appeared  at 
that  date. 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  201 

It  was  a  glorious  aspiration,  which,  had  it  been  realized, 
would  have  averted  Armageddon. 

Unfortunately  the  aspiration  remained  a  dream. 
The  ill-balanced  tendencies  of  the  late  nineteenth 
century  were  against  it,  and  they  ultimately  pre- 
vailed. The  abnormal  growth  of  national-imperialism, 
in  particular,  wrought  fatal  havoc.  The  exponents  of 
imperialistic  propagandas  like  Pan-Germanism  and 
Pan-Slavism  put  forth  literally  boundless  pretensions, 
planning  the  domination  of  the  entire  planet  by  then* 
special  brand  of  national-imperialism.  Such  men  had 
scant  regard  for  race-lines.  All  who  stood  outside  their 
particular  nationalistic  group  were  vowed  to  the  same 
subjection. 

Indeed,  the  national-imperialists  presently  seized 
upon  race  teachings,  and  prostituted  them  to  their 
own  ends.  A  notable  example  of  this  is  the  extreme 
Pan-German  propaganda  of  Houston  Stewart  Cham- 
berlain1 and  his  fellows.  Chamberlain  makes  two  car- 
dinal assumptions:  he  conceives  modern  Germany 
as  racially  almost  purely  Nordic;  and  he  regards  all 
Nordics  outside  the  German  linguistic-cultural  group 
as  either  unconscious  or  renegade  Teutons  who  must 
at  all  costs  be  brought  into  the  German  fold.  To  any 
one  who  understands  the  scientific  realities  of  race, 
the  monstrous  absurdity  of  these  assumptions  is  in- 
stantly apparent.  The  fact  is  that  modern  Germany, 

1  Especially  as  expounded  in  Chamberlain's  chief  work,  "Die  Grund- 
lagen  des  neunzehnten  Jahrhunderts"  ("The  Foundations  of  the 

Nineteenth  Century"). 


202    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

far  from  being  purely  Nordic,  is  mainly  Alpine  in  race. 
Nordic  blood  preponderates  only  in  the  northwest, 
and  is  merely  veneered  over  the  rest  of  Germany,  espe- 
cially in  the  upper  classes.  While  the  Germania  of 
Roman  days  was  unquestionably  a  Nordic  land,  it 
has  been  computed  that  of  the  70,000,000  inhabitants 
of  the  German  Empire  in  1914,  only  9,000,000  were 
purely  Nordic  in  character.  This  displacement  of  the 
German  Nordics  since  classic  times  is  chiefly  due  to 
Germany's  troubled  history,  especially  to  the  horrible 
Thirty  Years'  War  which  virtually  annihilated  the 
Nordics  of  south  Germany.  This  racial  displacement 
has  wrought  correspondingly  profound  changes  in  the 
character  of  the  German  people. 

The  truth  of  the  matter  is,  of  course,  that  the  Pan- 
Germans  were  thinking  in  terms  of  nationality  instead 
of  race,  and  that  they  were  using  pseudo-racial  argu- 
ments as  camouflage  for  essentially  political  ends.  The 
pity  of  it  is  that  these  arguments  have  had  such  dis- 
astrous repercussions  in  the  genuine  racial  sphere.  The 
late  war  has  not  only  exploded  Pan-Germanism,  it  has 
also  discredited  Nordic  race-feeling,  so  unjustly  con- 
fused by  many  persons  with  Pan-German  nationalistic 
propaganda.  Such  persons  should  remember  that  the 
overwhelming  majority  of  Nordics  live  outside  of  Ger- 
many, being  mainly  found  in  Scandinavia,  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  countries,  northern  France,  the  Netherlands,  and 
Baltic  Russia.  To  let  Teuton  propaganda  gull  us  into 
thinking  of  Germany  as  the  Nordic  fatherland  is  both 
a  danger  and  an  absurdity. 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY 

While  Pan-Germanism  was  mainly  responsible  for 
precipitating  Armageddon  with  all  its  disastrous  con- 


sequences, it  was  Russian  Pan-Slavism  which  dealt 
the  first  shrewd  blow  to  white  solidarity.  Toward 
the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  Pan-Slavism's 
"Eastern"  wing,  led  by  Prince  Ukhtomsky  and  other 
chauvinists  of  his  ilk,  went  so  far  in  its  imperialistic 
obsession  as  actually  to  deny  Russia's  white  blood. 
These  Pan-Slavists  boldly  proclaimed  the  morbid, 
mystical  dogma  that  Russia  was  Asiatic,  not  Euro- 
pean, and  thereupon  attempted  to  seize  China  as  a 
lever  for  upsetting,  first  the  rest  of  Asia,  and  then  the 
non-Russian  white  world — elegantly  described  as  "the 
rotten  west."  The  white  Power  immediately  menaced 
was,  of  course,  England,  who  in  acute  fear  for  her  In- 
dian Empire,  promptly  riposted  by  allying  herself 
with  Japan.  Russia  was  diplomatically  isolated  and 
militarily  beaten  in  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  Thus 
the  Russo-Japanese  War,  that  destroyer  of  white  pres- 
tige whose  ominous  results  we  have  already  noted, 
was  precipitated  mainly  by  the  reckless  short-sighted- 
ness of  white  men  themselves. 

A  second  blow  to  white  solidarity  was  presently 
administered — this  time  by  England  in  concluding 
her  second  alliance-treaty  with  Japan.  The  original 
alliance,  signed  in  1902,  was  negotiated  for  a  definite, 
limited  objective — the  checkmating  of  Russia's  over- 
weening imperialism.  Even  that  instrument  was  dan- 
gerous, but  under  the  circumstances  it  was  justifiable 
and  inevitable.  The  second  alliance-treaty,  however, 


204    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

was  so  general  and  far-reaching  in  character  that  prac- 
tically all  white  men  in  the  Far  East,  including  most 
emphatically  Englishmen  themselves,  pronounced  it 
a  great  disaster. 

Meanwhile,  German  imperialism  was  plotting  even 
deadlier  strokes  at  white  race-comity,  not  merely  by 
preparing  war  against  white  neighbors  in  Europe,  but 
also  by  ingratiating  itself  with  the  Moslem  East  and 
by  toying  with  schemes  for  building  up  a  black  mili- 
tary empire  in  central  Africa. 

Lastly,  France  was  actually  recruiting  black,  brown, 
and  yellow  hordes  for  use  on  European  battle-fields; 
while  Italy,  by  her  buccaneering  raid  on  Tripoli,  out- 
raged Islam's  sense  of  justice  and  strained  its  patience 
to  the  breaking-point. 

Thus,  in  the  years  preceding  Armageddon,  all  the 
European  Powers  displayed  a  reckless  absorption  in 
particularistic  ambitions  and  showed  a  callous  indiffer- 
ence to  larger  race-interests.  The  rapid  weakening  of 
white  solidarity  was  clearly  apparent. 

However,  white  solidarity,  though  diplomatically 
compromised,  was  emotionally  not  yet  really  under- 
mined. Those  dangerous  games  above  mentioned 
were  largely  the  work  of  cynical  chancelleries  and  ultra- 
imperialist  propagandas.  The  average  European,  what- 
ever his  nationality,  still  tended  to  react  instinctively 
against  such  practices.  This  was  shown  by  the  sharp 
criticism  which  arose  from  the  most  varied  quarters. 
For  example:  Russia  and  Britain  were  alike  sternly 
taken  to  task  both  at  home  and  abroad  for  their  re- 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  205 

spective  Far  Eastern  policies;  proposed  German  al- 
liances with  Pan-Islamism  and  Japan  preached  by 
disciples  of  Machtpolitik  were  strenuously  opposed  as 
race-treason  by  powerful  sections  of  German  thought; 
while  Italy's  Tripolitan  imbroglio  was  generally  de- 
nounced as  the  most  foolhardy  trifling  with  the  com- 
mon European  interest. 

A  good  illustration  of  instinctive  white  solidarity 
in  the  early  years  of  the  twentieth  century  is  a  French 
journalist's  description  of  the  attitude  of  the  white 
spectators  (of  various  nationalities)  gathered  to  watch 
the  landing  in  Japan  of  the  first  Russian  prisoners 
taken  in  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  This  writer  de- 
picts in  moving  language  the  literally  horrifying  effect 
of  the  spectacle  upon  himself  and  his  fellows.  "What 
a  triumph/'  he  exclaims,  "what  a  revenge  for  the 
little  Nippons  to  see  thus  humiliated  these  big,  splen- 
did men  who,  for  them,  represented,  not  only  Rus- 
sians, but  those  Europeans  whom  they  so  detest !  This 
scene  tragic  in  its  simplicity,  this  grief  passing  amid 
joy,  these  whites,  vanquished  and  captives,  defiling 
before  those  free  and  triumphant  yellows — this  was 
not  Russia  beaten  by  Japan,  not  the  defeat  of  one 
nation  by  another;  it  was  something  new,  enormous, 
prodigious;  it  was  the  victory  of  one  world  over  an- 
)ther;  it  was  the  revenge  which  effaced  the  centuries 
of  humiliations  borne  by  Asia;  it  was  the  awakening 
hope  of  the  Oriental  peoples;  it  was  the  first  blow 
given  to  the  other  race,  to  that  accursed  race  of  the 
West,  which,  for  so  many  years,  had  triumphed  with- 


206    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

out  even  having  to  struggle.  And  the  Japanese  crowd 
felt  all  this,  and  the  few  other  Asiatics  who  found  them- 
selves there  shared  in  this  triumph.  The  humiliation 
of  these  whites  was  solemn,  frightful.  I  completely 
forgot  that  these  captives  were  Russians,  and  I  would 
add  that  the  other  Europeans  there,  though  anti-Rus- 
sian, felt  the  same  malaise:  they  also  were  forced  to 
feel  that  these  captives  were  their  own  kind.  When 
we  took  the  train  for  Kobe,  an  instinctive  solidarity 
drove  us  huddling  into  the  same  compartment."1 

Thus  white  solidarity,  while  unquestionably  weak- 
ened, was  still  a  weighty  factor  down  to  August,  1914. 
But  the  first  shots  of  Armageddon  saw  white  solidarity 
literally  blown  from  the  muzzles  of  the  guns.  An  ex- 
plosion of  internecine  hatred  burst  forth  more  intense 
and  general  than  any  ever  known  before.  Both  sets 
of  combatants  proclaimed  a  duel  to  the  death;  both 
sides  vowed  the  enemy  to  something  near  annihilation; 
while  even  scientists  and  litterateurs,  disrupting  the 
ancient  commonwealths  of  wisdom  and  beauty,  put 
one  another  furiously  to  the  ban. 

In  their  savage  death-grapple  neither  side  hesitated 
for  an  instant  to  grasp  at  any  weapon,  whatever  the 
ultimate  consequences  to  the  race.  The  Allies  poured 
into  white  Europe  colored  hordes  of  every  pigment 
under  the  sun;  the  Teutonic  Powers  wielded  Pan- 
Islam  as  a  besom  of  wrath  to  sweep  clean  every  white 
foothold  in  Hither  Asia  and  North  Africa;  while  far 
and  wide  over  the  Dark  Continent  black  armies  fought 
for  their  respective  masters — and  learned  the  hidden 
1  Pinon,  "La  Lutte  pour  le  Paeifique,"  p.  166. 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  207 

weakness  of  the  white  man's  power.  In  the  Far  East, 
Japan,  left  to  her  own  devices,  bent  amorphous  China 
to  her  imperious  will,  thereby  raising  up  a  potential 
menace  for  the  entire  earth.  Every  day  the  tide  of 
intestine  hatred  within  the  wlu'te  world  rose  higher, 
until  the  very  concept  of  a  common  blood  and  cultural 
past  seemed  in  danger  of  being  blotted  out. 

A  symposium  of  the  "hate  literature"  of  the  Great 
War  is  fortunately  no  part  of  my  task,  but  the  reader 
will  readily  recall  both  its  abysmal  fury  and  its  ir- 
reconcilable implications.  The  most  appalling  feature 
was  the  way  in  which  many  writers  assumed  that  this 
state  of  mind  would  be  permanent;  that  the  end  of 
the  Great  War  might  be  only  the  beginning  of  a  war- 
cycle  leading  to  the  utter  disruption  of  white  solidarity 
and  civilization.  In  the  spring  of  1916,  the  London 
Nation  remarked  gloomily:  "Europe  is  now  being 
mentally  conceived  as  inevitably  and  permanently 
dual.  We  are  ceasing  to  think  of  Europe.  The  normal 
end  of  war  (which  is  peace)  is  to  be  submerged  in  the 
idea  of  a  war-series  indefinitely  prolonged.  Soon  the 
entire  Continent  wiH  have  but  one  longing — the  long- 
ing for  rest.  The  cup  is  to  be  dashed  from  its  lips! 
For  a  world  steeped  in  fear  and  ruled  by  the  barren 
logomachy  of  hate,  diplomatic  intercourse  would  al- 
most cease  to  be  possible.  ...  In  the  matter  of  cul- 
ture, modern  Europe  would  tend  to  relapse  to  a  state 
inferior  even  to  that  of  mediaeval  Europe,  and  to  sink 
far  below  that  of  the  Renaissance."1 

Jn  similar  vein,  the  noted  German  historian  Eduard 
1  The  Nation  (London),  April  8, 1916,  pp.  32-33. 


208    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

Meyer1  predicted  that  Armageddon  was  only  the  first 
of  a  long  series  of  Anglo-German  "Punic  Wars"  in 
which  modern  civilization  would  retrograde  to  a  con- 
dition of  semi-barbarism.  Germany,  according  to  this 
prophecy,  would  be  the  victor — but  a  Pyrrhic  victor, 
for  the  colored  races,  taking  advantage  of  white  de- 
cadence, would  destroy  European  supremacy  and  in- 
volve all  the  white  nations  in  a  common  ruin. 

The  ulcerated  state  of  European  war-psychology 
did,  in  fact,  lend  ominous  emphasis  to  these  gloomy 
prognostications.  Before  1914,  as  we  have  seen, 
imperialistic  trafficking  with  common  race-interests 
usually  roused  wide-spread  criticism,  while  even  more, 
the  use  of  colored  troops  in  white  quarrels  always 
roused  bitter  popular  condemnation.  In  the  darkest 
hours  of  the  Boer  War,  English  public  opinion  had  re- 
fused to  sanction  the  use  of  either  black  African  or 
brown  Indian  troops  against  the  white  foe,  while 
French  plans  for  raising  black  armies  of  African  sav- 
ages for  use  in  Europe  were  almost  universally  repro- 
bated. Before  Armageddon  there  thus  existed  a 
genuine  moral  repugnance  against  settling  domestic 
differences  by  calling  in  the  alien  without  the  gates. 

The  Great  War,  however,  sent  all  such  scruples 
promptly  into  the  discard.  Not  only  did  the  belliger- 
ent governments  use  all  the  colored  troops  they  could 
equip,  but  the  belligerent  peoples  hailed  this  action 

1  Eduard  Meyer,  "England:  Its  Political  Organization  and  Develop- 
ment and  the  War  against  Germany"  (English  translation,  Boston, 
1916). 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  209 

with  unqualified  approval.  The  Allies  were  of  course 
the  more  successful  in  practice,  but  the  Germans  were 
just  as  eager,  and  the  exertions  of  the  Prussian  General 
Liman  von  Sanders  actually  got  Turkish  divisions  to 
the  European  battle-fronts. 

The  psychological  effect  of  these  colored  auxiliaries  in 
deepening  the  hatred  of  the  white  combatants  was  de- 
plorable. Germany's  use  of  Turks  raised  among  the 
Allies  wrathful  emotions  reminiscent  of  the  Crusades, 
while  the  havoc  wrought  in  the  Teutonic  ranks  by  black 
Senegalese  and  yellow  Gurkhas,  together  with  Allied 
utterances  like  Lord  Curzon's  wish  to  see  Bengal  lancers 
on  the  Unter  den  Linden  and  Gurkhas  camping  at 
Sans  Souci,  so  maddened  the  German  people  that  the 
very  suggestion  of  white  solidarity  was  jeeringly  scoffed 
at  as  the  most  idiotic  sentimentality. 

Here  is  a  German  officer's  account  of  a  Senegalese 
attack  on  his  position,  which  vividly  depicts  the  mingled 
horror  and  fury  awakened  in  German  hearts  by  these 
black  opponents:  **They  came.  First  singly,  at  wide 
intervals.  Feeling  their  way,  like  the  arms  of  a  horrible 
cuttlefish.  Eager,  grasping,  like  the  claws  of  a  mighty 
monster.  Thus  they  rushed  closer,  flickering  and  some- 
times disappearing  in  the  cloud.  Entire  bodies  and 
single  limbs,  now  showing  in  the  harsh  glare,  now  sink- 
ing in  the  shadows,  came  nearer  and  nearer.  Strong, 
wild  fellows,  their  log-like,  fat,  black  skulls  wrapped  in 
pieces  of  dirty  rags.  Showing  their  grinning  teeth  like 
panthers,  with  their  bellies  drawn  in  and  their  necks 
stretched  forward.  Some  with  bayonets  on  then* 


210    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

rifles.  Many  only  armed  with  knives.  Monsters  all, 
in  their  confused  hatred.  Frightful  their  distorted, 
dark  grimaces.  Horrible  their  unnaturally  wide- 
opened,  burning,  bloodshot  eyes.  Eyes  that  seem 
like  terrible  beings  themselves.  Like  unearthly,  hell- 
born  beings.  Eyes  that  seemed  to  run  ahead  of  'their 
owners,  lashed,  unchained,  no  longer  to  be  restrained. 
On  they  came  like  dogs  gone  mad  and  cats  spitting  and 
yowling,  with  a  burning  lust  for  human  blood,  with  a 
cruel  dissemblance  of  their  beastly  malice.  Behind 
them  came  the  first  wave  of  the  attackers,  in  close 
order,  a  solid,  rolling  black  wall,  rising  and  falling, 
swaying  and  heaving,  impenetrable,  endless."1 

Here,  again,  is  the  proposal  of  a  British  officer,  to 
raise  a  million  black  savages  from  England's  African 
colonies  for  use  on  the  Western  Front.  Major  Stuart- 
Stephens  exults  in  Britain's  "almost  unlimited  reser- 
voir of  African  man-power."  In  northern  Nigeria 
alone,  he  remarks,  there  are  to-day  more  than  700,000 
warlike  tribesmen.  "Let  them  be  used!"  says  the 
major.  "These  'bonny  f centers'  are  now  engaged  in 
the  pastoral  arts  of  peace.  But  I  would  make  bold  to 
assert  that  a  couple  of  hundred  thousand  could,  after 
six  months'  training,  be  usefully  employed  in  dare- 
devil charges  into  German  trenches."  Major  Stuart- 
Stephens  hopes  that  at  least  the  Sudanese  battalions 
will  be  transferred  en  masse  to  the  Western  Front. 
"This,"  he  concludes,  "would  mean  the  placing  at  once 

Captain  Rheinhold  Eichacker,  "The  Blacks  Attack!"  New  York 
Times  Current  History,  vol.  XI,  pp.  110-112,  April-June,  1917. 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  211 

in  the  trenches  of,  say,  70,000  big,  lusty  coal-black 
devils,  the  time  of  whose  life  is  the  wielding  of  the 
bayonet,  and  whose  advent  would  not  be  regarded  by 
the  Boches  as  a  pleasing  omen  of  more  to  come  of  the 
same  sort."1 

The  military  possibilities  are  truly  engaging !  There 
are  literally  tens  of  millions  of  fighting  blacks  and  scores 
of  millions  of  fighting  Asiatics  now  living  under  white 
rule  who  could  conceivably  be  armed  and  shipped  to 
European  battle-fields.  After  which,  of  course,  Europe, 
the  white  homeland,  would  be — a  queer  place. 

Fortunately  for  our  race,  the  late  war  did  not  see 
this  sort  of  thing  carried  to  its  logical  conclusion.  But 
the  harm  done  was  bad  enough.  The  white  world 
grew  accustomed  to  the  use  of  colored  mercenaries  and 
to  the  contracting  of  alliances  with  colored  peoples 
against  white  opponents  as  a  mere  matter  of  course. 

The  German  war-mind,  hi  particular,  teemed  with 
colored  alliance-projects.  Unable  to  compete  with  the 
Allies  in  getting  colored  troops  to  Europe,  Germans 
planned  to  revenge  themselves  in  other  fields.  The 
Turkish  alliance  and  the  resulting  "Holy  War"  proc- 
lamation were  hailed  with  delight.  "Over  there  in 
Turkey/'  wrote  the  well-known  German  publicist 
Ernst  Jaeckji,  "stretch  Anatolia  and  Mesopotamia: 
Anatolia,  the  'Land  of  the  Sunrise';  Mesopotamia,  the 
region  of  ancient  paradise.  May  these  names  be  to  us 
a  sign:  may  this  World  War  bring  to  Germany  and 


1  Major    Darnley   Stuart-Stephens,    "Our    Million    Black    Army,' 

English  Review,  October,  1916. 


212    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Turkey  the  sunrise  and  the  paradise  of  a  new  time; 
may  it  confer  upon  an  assured  Turkey  and  a  Greater 
Germany  the  blessing  of  a  fruitful  Turco-Teutonic  col- 
laboration in  peace  after  a  victorious  Turco-Teutonic 
collaboration  in  war." 1 

The  scope  of  Germany's  Asiatic  aspirations  during 
the  war  is  exemplified  by  an  article  from  the  pen  of  the 
learned  Orientalist  Professor  Bernhardt  Molden.2  Ger- 
many's aid  to  Turkey,  contends  Professor  Molden,  is 
merely  symptomatic  of  her  policy  to  raise  the  other 
Asiatic  peoples  now  crushed  beneath  English  and  Rus- 
sian domination.  Thus  Germany  will  create  puissant 
allies  for  the  "  Second  Punic  War."  Germany  must 
therefore  strive  to  solidify  the  great  Central  Asian 
bloc — Turkey,  Persia,  Afghanistan,  China.  Professor 
Molden  urges  a  " Pan-Asian  railroad"  from  Constan- 
tinople to  Peking.  This  should  be  especially  alluring 
to  Afghanistan,  which  would  thereby  become  one  of 
the  great  pivots  of  world-politics  and  trade.  In  fine: 
"Germany  must  free  Asia."  As  another  prominent 
German  writer,  Friedrich  Delitzsch,  wrote  in  similar 
vein:  "To  renovate  the  East — such  is  Germany's 
mission." 3 

In  such  a  mood,  Germans  hailed  Japan's  absence  of 
genuine  hostility  with  the  greatest  satisfaction.  The 

1  Ernst  Jaeckh,  "Die  deutsch-turkische  Waffenbruderschaft,"  p.  30 
(Berlin,  1915). 

2  Bernhardt  Molden,  "  Die  Bedeutung  Asiens  im  Kampf  fur  unsere 
Zukunft,"    Preussische    Jahrbucher,    December,    1914.     See    also    his 
article  "Europa  und  Asien,"  Preussische  Jahrbiicher,  October,  1915. 

3  Friedrich  Delitzsch,  "Deutschland  und  Asien"  (pamphlet)  (Ber- 
lin, 1914). 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  213 

gust  of  rage  which  swept  Germany  at  Japan's  seizure 
of  Kiao-chao  was  soon  allayed  by  numerous  writers 
preaching  reconciliation  and  eventual  alliance  with  the 
mistress  of  the  Far  East.  Typical  of  this  pro-Japanese 
propaganda  is  an  article  by  Herr  J.  Witte,  a  former 
official  in  the  Far  East,  which  appeared  in  1915.  Herr 
Witte  chides  his  countrymen  for  their  talk  about  the 
Yellow  Peril.  Such  a  peril  may  exist  in  the  future,  but 
it  is  not  pressing  at  this  moment,  "at  any  rate  for  us 
Germans,  who  have  no  great  territorial  possessions  in 
the  Far  East.  .  .  .  We  might  permit  ourselves  to  speak 
of  a  Yellow  Peril  if  there  was  a  white  solidarity.  This, 
however,  does  not  exist.  We  are  learning  this  just 
now  by  bitter  experience  on  our  own  flesh  and  blood. 
Our  foes  have  marshalled  peoples  of  all  races  against 
us  in  battle.  So  long  as  this  helps  them,  all  race-an- 
tipathies and  race-interests  are  to  them  matters  of  su- 
preme indifference.  Under  these  circumstances,  in 
the  midst  of  a  life-and-death  struggle  against  the  peo- 
ples of  the  white  race,  shall  we  play  the  r61e  of  guardian 
angel  of  these  peoples  against  the  yellow  peoples? 
For  us,  as  Germans,  there  is  now  only  one  supreme 
life-interest,  to  which  all  other  interests  must  be  sub- 
ordinated: the  safety  and  advancement  of  Germany 
and  of  Deutschtum  in  the  world."  Herr  Witte  there- 
fore advocates  a  "close  political  understanding  be- 
tween Germany  and  Japan.  In  future  we  can  accom- 
plish nothing  in  the  teeth  of  Japan.  Therefore  we 
must  get  on  good  terms  with  Japan.  And  we  can  do 
it,  too.  Germany  is,  in  fact,  the  country  above  all 


214    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

others  who  in  the  future  has  the  best  prospect  of  ally- 
ing herself  advantageously  with  the  Far  Eastern  peo- 
ples."1 

And  so  it  went  throughout  the  war-years:  both  sides 
using  all  possible  colored  aid  to  down  the  white  foe; 
both  sides  alike  reckless  of  the  ultimate  racial  conse- 
quences. 

In  fact,  leaving  ultimate  consequences  aside,  many 
persons  feared  during  the  later  phases  of  the  war  that 
Europe  might  be  headed  for  immediate  dissolution. 
As  early  as  mid-1916,  Lord  Loreburn  expressed  appre- 
hension lest  the  war  was  entailing  general  bankruptcy 
and  "such  a  destruction  of  the  male  youth  of  Europe 
as  will  break  the  thin  crust  of  civilization  which  has 
been  built  up  since  the  Dark  Ages."2  These  fears 
were  intensified  by  the  Russian  revolution  of  1917, 
with  its  hideous  corollary  of  Bolshevism  which  def- 
initely triumphed  before  the  close  of  that  year.  The 
Bolshevik  triumph  evoked  despairing  predictions  like 
Lord  Lansdowne's:  "We  are  not  going  to  lose  this 
war,  but  its  prolongation  will  spell  ruin  for  the  civilized 
world."3 

Well,  the  war  was  prolonged  for  another  year,  end- 
ing in  the  triumph  of  the  Allies  and  America,  though 
leaving  Europe  in  the  deplorable  condition  reviewed 
in  the  preceding  chapter.  The  hopes  of  mankind 

^ic.  Missionsinspektor  J.  Witte,  "Deutschland  und  die  Volker 
Ostasiens  in  Vergangenheit  und  Zukunft,"  Preussische  Jahrbiicher, 
May,  1916. 

2  The  Economist  (London),  June  17,  1916,  p.  1134. 

8  The  Literary  Digest,  December  15,  1917,  p.  14. 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  215 

were  now  centred  on  the  Peace  Conference,  but  these 
hopes  were  oversanguine,  for  the  Versailles  "settle- 
ment" was  riddled  with  political  and  economic  imper- 
fections from  the  Saar  to  Shantung. 

This  was  what  a  sceptical  minority  had  feared  from 
the  first.  At  the  very  beginning  of  the  war,  for  in- 
stance, the  French  publicist  Urbain  Gohier  had  pre- 
dicted that  when  the  diplomats  gathered  at  the  end 
of  the  conflict  they  would  find  the  problem  of  construc- 
tive settlement  insoluble.1 

Most  persons,  however,  had  been  more  hopeful. 
Disappointment  and  disillusionment  were  therefore 
correspondingly  intense.  The  majority  of  liberal- 
minded,  forward-looking  men  and  women  throughout 
the  world  deplored  the  Versailles  settlement's  faulty 
character,  some,  however,  accepting  the  situation  as 
the  best  of  a  bad  business,  others  entirely  repudiating 
it  on  the  ground  that  by  crystallizing  an  intolerable 
status  it  would  entail  worse  disasters  in  the  near  future. 

General  Smuts,  the  South  African  delegate  to  the 
Conference,  well  represents  the  first  attitude.  In  a 
formal  protest  against  the  Versailles  settlement,  Gen- 
eral Smuts  stated :  "I  have  signed  the  peace  treaty,  not 
because  I  consider  it  a  satisfactory  document,  but  be- 
cause it  is  imperatively  necessary  to  close  the  war;  be- 
cause the  world  needs  peace  above  all,  and  nothing 
could  be  more  fatal  than  the  continuance  of  the  state 
of  suspense  between  war  and  peace.  The  six  months 
since  the  armistice  was  signed  have,  perhaps,  been  as 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  December  15,  1914,  p.  14, 


216    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

upsetting,  unsettling;  and  ruinous  to  Europe  as  the 
previous  four  years  of  war.  I  look  upon  the  peace 
treaty  as  the  close  of  these  two  chapters  of  war  and 
armistice,  and  only  on  that  ground  do  I  agree  to  it.  I 
say  this  now,  not  in  criticism,  but  in  faith;  not  be- 
cause I  wish  to  find  fault  with  the  work  done,  but  rather 
because  I  feel  that  in  the  treaty  we  have  not  yet 
achieved  the  real  peace  to  which  our  peoples  were  look- 
ing, and  because  I  feel  that  the  real  work  of  making 
peace  will  only  begin  after  this  treaty  has  been  signed, 
and  a  definite  halt  has  thereby  been  called  to  the  de- 
structive passions  that  have  been  desolating  Europe 
for  nearly  five  years."1 

The  English  economist  J.  L.  Garvin,  who,  like  Gen- 
eral Smuts,  accepted  the  treaty  faute  de  mieux,  makes 
these  trenchant  comments  upon  the  settlement  itself: 
"  Derisive  human  genius  surveying  with  pity  and  laugh- 
ter the  present  state  of  mankind  and  some  of  the  ob- 
solete means  adopted  at  Paris  to  remedy  it,  might  do 
most  good  by  another  satire  like  Rabelais,  Gulliver, 
or  Candide.  But  let  us  put  from  us  here  the  tempta- 
tion to  conjure  up  vistas  of  the  grotesque.  Let  us 
pursue  these  plain  studies  in  common  sense.  A  treaty 
even  when  signed  is  paper.  It  is  in  itself  inoperative 
without  the  action  or  control  of  living  forces  which 
it  seeks  to  express  or  repress.  Treaties  not  drawn 
against  sound  and  certain  assets  may  be  dishonored 
in  the  sequel  like  bad  checks  or  bills.  You  do  not  get 
peace  merely  by  putting  it  on  paper.  And,  much  more 

1  Official  document. 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  217 

to  the  point,  all  that  is  called  peace  does  not  necessarily 
spell  prosperity  any  more  than  all  that  glitters  is  gold. 
You  can  'make  a  solitude  and  call  it  peace/  The 
quintessence  of  death  or  stupefaction  resembles  a  kind 
of  peace.  You  can  prolong  relative  stagnation  and 
depression  and  yet*  say  that  it  is  peace.  But  that 
would  not  be  the  reconciling  and  lasting,  the  construc- 
tive and  the  creative  peace,  as  it  was  visioned  by  the 
Allied  peoples  in  their  greatest  moments  of  insight  and 
inspiration  during  the  war.  For  that  higher  and  wiser 
thing  we  lavished  our  pent-up  energies  and  the  accumu- 
lated treasure  of  a  hundred  years,  and  sent  so  many  of 
our  best  to  die."1 

That  veteran  student  of  world-politics  Doctor  E.  J. 
Dillon  put  the  matter  succinctly  when  he  wrote:  "The 
peace  is  being  made  not,  as  originally  projected,  on  the 
basis  of  the  fourteen  points,  nor  on  the  lines  of  terri- 
torial equilibrium,  but  by  a  compromise  which  misses 
the  advantage  of  either,  and  combines  certain  evils  of 
both.  The  treaty  has  failed  to  lay  the  axe  to  the  roots 
of  war,  has  perhaps  increased  their  number  while  pur- 
porting to  destroy  them.  The  germs  of  future  conflicts, 
not  only  between  the  recent  belligerents,  but  also  be- 
tween other  groups  of  states,  are  numerous,  and  if 
present  symptoms  may  be  trusted  will  sprout  up  in 
the  fulness  of  time/'2 

The  badness  of  the  Versailles  treaties  is  nowhere 

1 J.  L.  Garvin,  "The  Heritage  of  Armageddon,"  The  Observer  (Lon- 
don). Reprinted  in  The  Living  Age,  September  6,  1919. 

2  IB  The  Daily  Telegraph  (London).  Quoted  in  The  Nation  (New 
York),  June  14,  1919,  p.  960. 


218    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

more  manifest  than  in  the  way  they  have  alienated 
idealistic  support  and  enthusiasm  from  the  inchoate 
League  of  Nations.  Multitudes  of  persons  once  zealous 
Leaguers  now  feel  that  the  League  has  no  moral  foun- 
dation. Such  persons  contend  that  even  were  the 
covenant  theoretically  perfect,  the  League  could  no 
more  succeed  on  the  basis  of  the  present  peace  settle- 
ment than  a  flawlessly  designed  palace  could  be  erected 
if  superimposed  upon  a  quicksand. 

Europe  is  thus  in  evil  case.  Her  statesmen  have 
failed  to  formulate  a  constructive  settlement.  Old 
problems  remain  unsolved  while  fresh  problems  arise. 
The  danger  is  redoubled  by  the  fact  that  both  Europe 
and  the  entire  world  are  faced  with  a  new  peril — Bol- 
shevism. The  menace  of  Bolshevism  is  simply  in- 
calculable. Bolshevism  is  a  peril  in  some  ways  unprec- 
edented in  the  world's  history.  It  is  not  merely  a 
war  against  a  social  system,  not  merely  a  war  against 
our  civilization;  it  is  a  war  of  the  hand  against  the 
brain.  For  the  first  time  since  man  was  man  there  is 
a  definite  schism  between  the  hand  and  the  head. 
Every  principle  which  mankind  has  thus  far  evolved: 
community  of  interest,  the  solidarity  of  civilization  and 
culture,  the  dignity  of  labor,  of  muscle,  of  brawn, 
dominated  and  illumined  by  intellect  and  spirit — all 
these  Bolshevism  howls  down  and  tramples  in  the  mud. 

Bolshevism's  cardinal  tenets — the  dictatorship  of 
the  proletariat,  and  the  destruction  of  the  "classes" 
by  social  war — are  of  truly  hideous  import.  The 
"classes,"  as  conceived  by  Bolshevism,  are  very  numer- 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  219 

ous.  They  comprise  not  merely  the  "idle  rich,"  but 
also  the  whole  of  the  upper  and  middle  social  strata,  the 
landowning  country  folk,  the  skilled  working  men;  in 
short>  ah*  except  those  who  work  with  their  untutored 
hands,  plus  the  elect  few  who  philosophize  for  those  who 
work  with  their  untutored  hands. 

The  effect  of  such  ideas,  if  successful,  not  only  on 
our  civilization,  but  also  on  the  very  fibre  of  the  race, 
can  be  imagined.  The  death  or  degradation  of  nearly 
all  persons  displaying  constructive  ability,  and  the 
tyranny  of  the  ignorant  and  anti-social  elements, 
would  be  the  most  gigantic  triumph  of  disgenics  ever 
seen.  Beside  it  the  ill  effects  of  war  would  pale  into 
insignificance.  Civilization  would  wither  like  a  plant 
stricken  by  blight,  while  the  race,  summarily  drained 
of  its  good  blood,  would  sink  like  lead  into  the  depths 
of  degenerate  barbarism. 

This  is  precisely  what  is  occurring  in  Russia  to-day. 
Bolshevism  has  ruled  Russia  less  than  three  years — 
and  Russia  is  ruined.  She  ekes  out  a  bare  existence  on 
the  remains  of  past  accumulations,  on  the  surviving 
scraps  of  her  material  and  spiritual  capital.  Every- 
where are  hunger,  cold,  disease,  terror,  physical  and 
moral  death.  The  "proletariat"  is  making  its  "clean 
sweep."  The  "classes"  are  being  systematically  elim- 
inated by  execution,  massacre,  and  starvation.  The 
racial  impoverishment  is  simply  incalculable.  Mean- 
while Lenine,  surrounded  by  his  Chinese  executioners, 
sits  behind  the  Kremlin  walls,  a  modern  Jenghiz  Khan 
plotting  the  plunder  of  a  world. 


220    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Lenine's  Chinese  "braves"  are  merely  symptomatic 
of  the  intrigues  which  Bolshevism  is  carrying  on 
throughout  the  non-white  world.  Bolshevism  is,  in 
fact,  as  anti-racial  as  it  is  anti-social.  To  the  Bolshe- 
vik mind,  with  its  furious  hatred  of  constructive  ability 
and  its  fanatical  determination  to  enforce  levelling,  pro- 
letarian  equality,  the  very  existence  of  superior  biolog- 
ical values  is  a  crime.  Bolshevism  has  vowed  the  prole- 
tarianization of  the  world,  beginning  with  the  white 
peoples.  To  this  end  it  not  only  foments  social  revolu- 
tion within  the  white  world  itself,  but  it  also  seeks  to 
enlist  the  colored  races  in  its  grand  assault  on  civiliza- 
tion. The  rulers  of  Soviet  Russia  are  well  aware  of  the 
profound  ferment  now  going  on  in  colored  lands.  They 
watch  this  ferment  with  the  same  terrible  glee  that 
they  watched  the  Great  War  and  the  fiasco  of  Ver- 
sailles— and  they  plot  to  turn  it  to  the  same  profit. 

Accordingly,  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  in  Asia, 
Africa,  Latin  America,  and  the  United  States,  Bol- 
shevik agitators  whisper  in  the  ears  of  discontented 
colored  men  their  gospel  of  hatred  and  revenge.  Every 
nationalist  aspiration,  every  political  grievance,  every 
social  discrimination,  is  fuel  for  Bolshevism's  hellish 
incitement  to  racial  as  well  as  to  class  war. 

And  this  Bolshevik  propaganda  has  not  been  in 
vain.  Its  results  already  show  in  the  most  diverse 
quarters,  and  they  are  ominous  for  the  future.  China, 
Japan,  Afghanistan,  India,  Java,  Persia,  Turkey, 
Egypt,  Brazil,  Chile,  Peru,  Mexico,  and  the  "black 
belts"  of  our  own  United  States:  here  is  a  partial 


WHITE    SOLIDARITY  221 

list  of  the  lands  where  the  Bolshevik  leaven  in  color 
is  clearly  at  work. 

Bolshevism  thus  reveals  itself  as  the  arch-enemy  of 
civilization  and  the  race.  Bolshevism  is  the  renegade, 
the  traitor  within  the  gates,  who  would  betray  the 
citadel,  degrade  the  very  fibre  of  our  being,  and  ulti- 
mately hurl  a  rebarbarized,  racially  impoverished 
world  into  the  most  debased  and  hopeless  of  mon- 
grelizations. 

Therefore,  Bolshevism  must  be  crushed  out  with 
iron  heels,  no  matter  what  the  cost.  If  this  means 
more  war,  let  it  mean  more  war.  We  know  only  too 
wefl  war's  dreadful  toll,  particularly  on  racial  values. 
But  what  war-losses  could  compare  with  the  losses 
inflicted  by  the  living  death  of  Bolshevism?  There 
are  some  things  worse  than  war,  and  Bolshevism  stands 
foremost  among  those  dread  alternatives. 

So  ends  our  survey  of  the  white  world  as  it  emerges 
from  the  Great  War.  The  prospect  is  not  a  brilliant 
one.  Weakened  and  impoverished  by  Armageddon, 
handicapped  by  an  unconstructive  peace,  and  facing 
internal  Bolshevist  disaffection  which  must  at  all  costs 
be  mastered,  the  white  world  is  ill-prepared  to  con- 
front—the rising  tide  of  color.  What  that  tide  por- 
tends will  be  the  subject  of  the  concluding  chapters. 


PART  III 
THE  DELUGE  ON  THE  DIKES 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  OUTER  DIKES 

IN  my  first  chapter  I  showed  that  the  rising  tide  of 
color  to-day  finds  itself  confronted  by  dikes  erected 
by  the  white  race  during  the  centuries  of  its  expan- 
sion. The  reader  will  also  remember  that  white  ex- 
L  /pansion  has  taken  two  forms:  settlement  and  polit- 
ical control.  These  two  phases  differ  profoundly  in 
character.  Areas  of  settlement  like  North  America 
have  become  integral  portions  of  the  white  world.  On 
the  other  hand,  regions  of  political  control  like  India 
are  merely  white  dependencies,  highly  valuable  per- 
haps, yet  in  the  last  analysis  held  by  title  of  the  swoid. 

Between  these  clearly  contrasted  categories  lies  an 
intermediate  class  of  territories  typified  by  South  Africa, 
where  whites  have  settled  in  large  numbers  without 
displacing  the  native  populations.  Lastly,  there  exist 
certain  white  territories  which  may  be  called  "en- 
claves." These  enclaves  have  become  thoroughly 
white  by  settlement,  yet  they  are  so  distant  from  th« 
main  body  of  the  white  world  and  so  contiguous  to 
colored  race-areas  that  white  tenure  does  not  possess 
that  security  which  settlement  and  displacement  of 
the  aborigines  normally  confer.  Australia  typifies 
this  anomalous  class  of  cases. 

The  white  defenses  against  the  colored  tide  can  be 

225 


226    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

divided  into  what  may  be  termed  the  "outer"  and 
the  "inner"  dikes.  The  outer  dikes  (the  regions  of 
white  political  control)  contain  no  settled  white  popula- 
tion, so  that  their  abandonment,  whatever  the  political 
or  economic  loss,  would  not  directly  affect  white  race- 
integrity.  The  question  of  their  retention  or  aban- 
donment should  therefore  (save  in  a  few  exceptional 
cases)  be  judged  by  political,  economic,  or  strategic 
considerations.  The  inner  dikes  (the  areas  of  white 
settlement),  however,  are  a  very  different  matter. 
Peopled  as  they  are  wholly  or  largely  by  whites,  they 
have  become  parts  of  the  race-heritage,  which  should 
be  defended  to  the  last  extremity  no  matter  if  the  costs 
involved  are  greater  than  their  mere  economic  value 
would  warrant.  They  are  the  true  bulwarks  of  the 
race,  the  patrimony  of  future  generations  who  have 
a  right  to  demand  of  us  that  they  shall  be  born  white 
in  a  white  man's  land.  HI  will  it  fare  if  ever  our  race 
should  close  its  ears  to  this  most  elemental  call  of  the 
blood.  Then,  indeed,  would  be  manifest  the  writing 
on  the  wall. 

That  issue,  however,  is  reserved  for  the  next  chap- 
ter. Let  us  here  examine  the  matter  of  the  outer  dikes 
— the  regions  of  white  political  control.  There,  where 
the  white  man  is  not  settler  but  suzerain,  his  suzerainty 
should,  in  the  last  analysis,  depend  on  the  character 
of  the  inhabitants. 

Right  here,  let  us  clear  away  the  doctrinaire  pedantry 
that  commonly  obscures  discussion  about  the  retention 
or  abandonment  of  white  political  control  over  racially 


THE    OUTER    DIKES  227 

non-white  regions.  Argument  usually  tends  to  crystal- 
lize around  two  antitheses.  On  the  one  side  are  the 
doctrinaire  liberals,  who  maintain  the  "imprescriptible 
right"  of  every  human  group  to  attain  independence, 
and  of  every  sovereign  state  to  retain  independence. 
On  the  opposite  side  are  the  doctrinaire  imperialists, 
who  maintain  the  equally  imprescriptible  right  of  their 
particular  nation  to  "vital  expansion"  regardless  of 
injuries  thereby  inflicted  upon  other  nations. 

Now  I  submit  that  both  these  assumptions  are  un- 
warranted. There  is  no  "imprescriptible  right"  to 
either  independence  or  empire.  It  depends  on  the 
realities  of  each  particular  case.  The  extreme  cases 
at  either  end  of  the  scale  can  be  adjudged  offhand  by 
ordinary  common  sense.  No  one  except  a  doctrinaire 
liberal  would  be  likely  to  assert  that  the  Andaman 
Islanders  had  an  imprescriptible  right  to  independence, 
or  that  Haiti,  which  owed  its  independence  only  to  a 
turn  in  European  politics,1  should  forever  remain  a 
sovereign — international  nuisance.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  whole  world  (with  the  exception  of  Teutonic  im- 
perialists) denounced  Germany's  attempt  to  swallow 

1  Despite  the  legends  which  have  grown  up  about  the  gaining  of 
Haitian  independence,  such  is  the  fact.  Despite  the  handicap  of  yellow 
fever,  the  French  were  on  the  point  of  stamping  out  the  negro  insurgents 
when  the  renewal  of  war  with  England,  in  1803,  cut  off  the  French  sea- 
communications.  The  story  of  Haiti  offers  many  interesting  and  in- 
structive points  to  the  student  of  race-questions.  It  was  the  first  reaJ 
shock  between  the  ideals  of  white  supremacy  and  race-equality;  a 
prologue  to  the  mighty  drama  of  our  own  day.  It  also  shows  what  real 
race-war  means.  To  the  historical  student  I  cite  my  "  French  Revolu- 
tion in  San  Domingo"  (Boston,  1914),  wherein  the  entire  revolutionary 
cycle  between  1789  and  1804  is  described,  based  largely  upon  hitherto 
unexploited  archival  material. 


228    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

highly  civilized  Belgium  as  a  crime  against  human- 
ity. " 

A  -\  In  other  words:  realities,  not  abstract  theories, 
decide.  That  does  not  please  the  doctrinaires,  who 
insist  on  setting  up  Procrustean  beds  of  theory  on  which 
realities  should  be  racked  or  crammed.  It  does,  how- 
ever, conform  to  the  dictates  of  nature,  which  decree 
that  what  is  attuned  shall  live  while  the  disharmonic 
and  degenerate  shall  pass  away.  And  nature  usually 
has  the  last  word. 

Surveying  the  regions  of  white  political  control  over 
non-white  peoples  in  this  realistic  way,  thereby  avoid- 
ing the  pitfalls  of  doctrinaire  theory  and  blind  prej- 
udice, we  may  arrive  at  a  series  of  conclusions  which, 
though  lacking  the  trim  symmetry  of  the  idealogue, 
will  correspond  to  the  facts  in  the  various  cases. 

One  thing  is  certain:  the  white  man  will  have  to 
recognize  that  the  practically  absolute  world-dominion 
which  he  exercised  during  the  nineteenth  century  can 
no  longer  be  maintained.  Largely  because  of  that 
very  dominion,  colored  races  have  been  drawn  out  of 
their  traditional  isolation  and  have  been  quickened 
by  white  ideas,  while  the  life-conserving  nature  of 
white  rule  has  everywhere  favored  colored  multiplica- 
tion. These  factors  have  combined  to  produce  a  wide- 
spread ferment  which  has  been  clearly  visible  for  the 
past  two  decades,  and  which  is  destined  to  grow  more 
acute  in  the  near  future. 

This  ferment  would  have  developed  even  if  the  Great 
War  had  never  occurred.  However,  the  white  world's 
weakening  through  Armageddon  has  immensely  ac- 


THE    OUTER    DIKES  229 

celerated  the  process  and  has  opened  up  the  possibility 
of  violent  "short  cuts"  which  would  have  mutually 
disastrous  consequences.    Especially  has  it  evoked  in 
bellicose  and  fanatical  minds  the  vision  of  a  "Pan- 
Colored"  alliance  for  the  universal  overthrow  of  white 
hegemony  at  a  single  stroke — a  dream  which  would  turn  ? 
into  a  nightmare  of  race-war  beside  which  the  late  • 
struggle  in  Europe  would  seem  the  veriest  child's 
play. 

The  effective  centres  of  colored  unrest  are  the  brown 
and  yellow  worlds  of  Asia.  Both  those  worlds  are  not 
merely  in  negative  opposition  to  white  hegemony,  but 
are  experiencing  a  real  renaissance  whose  genuineness 
is  best  attested  by  the  fact  that  it  is  a  faithful  replica 
of  similar  movements  in  past  times.  White  men  must 
get  out  of  their  heads  the  idea  that  Asiatics  are  neces- 
sarily "inferior."  As  a  matter  of  fact,  while  Asiatics 
do  not  seem  to  possess  that  sustained  constructive 
power  with  which  the  whites,  particularly  the  Nordics, 
are  endowed,  the  browns  and  yellows  are  yet  gifted 
peoples  who  have  profoundly  influenced  human  prog- 
ress in  the  past  and  who  undoubtedly  will  contribute 
much  to  world-civilization.-/  The  Asiatics  have  by 
their  own  efforts  built  up  admirable  cultures  rooted  in 
remote  antiquity  and  worthy  of  all  respect.  They 
are  to-day  once  more  displaying  their  innate  capacity 
by  not  merely  adopting,  but  adapting,  white  ideas 
and  methods.  That  this  profound  Asiatic  renaissance 
will  eventually  result  in  the  substantial  elimination  of 
white  political  control  from  Anatolia  to  the  Philippines 
is  as  natural  as  it  is  inevitable. 


230    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

This  does  not  mean  a  precipitate  white  " scuttle" 
from  Asia.  Far  from  it.  It  does  mean,  however,  a 
candid  facing  of  realities  and  a  basing  of  policy  on 
realities  rather  than  on  prepossessions  or  prejudices. 
Unless  the  white  man  does  this,  he  will  injure  himself 
more  than  any  one  else.  If  Asia  is  to-day  really 
renascent,  Asia  will  ultimately  reap  the  political  fruits. 
Men  worthy  of  independence  will  sooner  or  later  get 
independence.  This  is  as  certain  as  is  the  converse 
truth  that  men  unworthy  of  independence,  though 
they  cry  for  it  never  so  loudly,  will  either  remain 
subject  or  will  quickly  relapse  into  subjection  should 
they  by  some  lucky  circumstance  obtain  what  they 
could  only  misuse. 

If,  then,  Asia  deserves  to  be  free,  she  will  be  free. 
The  only  question  is,  how  she  will  attain  her  freedom. 
Shall  it  be  an  evolutionary  process,  in  the  main  peace- 
ful, based  upon  mutual  respect,  with  mutual  recogni- 
tion of  both  increasing  Asiatic  fitness  and  white  vested 
interests?  Or  shall  it  come  through  cataclysmic  rev- 
olution? This  is  the  dilemma  which  those  imperial- 
ists should  ponder  who  object  to  any  relaxation  of  white 
political  control  over  Asia  because  of  the  "value"  of 
the  subject  regions.  That  white  control  over  Asiatic 
lands  has  been,  and  still  is,  immensely  profitable,  can- 
not be  denied.  But  what  basis  for  this  value  is  there 
except  lack  of  effective  opposition?  If  real,  sustained 
opposition  now  develops,  if  subject  Asia  becomes 
chronically  rebellious,  if  its  peoples  resolutely  boy- 
cott white  goods — as  China  and  India  have  shown 


THE    OUTER    DIKES  231 

Asiatics  capable  of  doing,  will  not  white  control  be 
transformed  from  an  asset  into  a  liability?  Above  all, 
let  us  remember  that  no  race-values  are  involved.  No 
white  race-areas  would  have  to  be  abandoned  to  non- 
white  domination.  White  control  over  Asia  is  politi- 
cal, and  can  thus  be  judged  by  the  criteria  of  material 
interest  undisturbed  by  the  categorical  imperative  of 
race-duty. 

The  need  for  sympathetic  open-mindedness  toward 
awakening  Asia  if  cataclysmic  disasters  are  to  be 
averted  becomes  all  the  clearer  when  we  realize  that 
on  important  issues  lying  outside  Asia  the  white  world 
must  resolutely  oppose  Asiatic  desires./iWe  whites 
should  be  the  more  generous  in  our  attitude  toward 
Asia  because  imperative  reasons  of  self-protection  re- 
quire us  to  deny  to  Asiatics  some  of  their  best  oppor- 
tunities in  the  outer  worlcLJ/' 

In  my  opening  chapters  I  discussed  the  rapid  growth 
of  Asiatic  populations  and  the  resultant  steadily  aug- 
menting outward  thrust  of  surplus  Asiatics  (princi- 
pally yellow  men,  but  also  in  lesser  degree  brown  men) 
from  overcrowded  homelands  toward  the  less-crowded 
regions  of  the  earth.  It  is,  in  fact,  Asiatics,  and  above 
all  Mongolian  Asiatics,  who  form  the  first  waves  of  the 
rising  tide  of  color.  Unfortunately,  the  white  world 
cannot  permit  this  rising  tide  free  scope.  /White  men 
cannot,  under  peril  of  their  very  race-existence,  allow 
wholesale  Asiatic  immigration  into  white  race-areas^ 
This  prohibition,  which  will  be  discussed  in  the  next 
chapter,  is  akeady  a  serious  blow  to  Asiatic  aspirations. 


232    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

But  the  matter  does  not  end  there.  The  white 
world  also  cannot  permit  with  safety  to  itself  whole- 
sale Asiatic  penetration  of  non-Asiatic  colored  regions 
like  black  Africa  and  tropical  Latin  America.  To  per- 
mit Asiatic  colonization  and  ultimate  control  of  these 
vast  territories  with  their  incalculable  resources  would 
be  to  overturn  in  favor  of  Asia  the  political,  the  eco- 
nomic, and  eventually  the  racial  balance  of  power  in 
the  world.  rAt  present  the  white  man  controls  these 
regions.  And  he  must  stand  fastj  No  other  course 
is  possible.  Neither  black  Africa  nor  mongrel-ruled 
tropical  America  can  stand  alone.  If  the  white  man 
goes,  the  Asiatic  comes — browns  to  Africa,  yellows  to 
Latin  America.  And  there  is  no  reason  under  heaven 
why  we  whites  should  deliberately  present  Asia  with 
the  richest  regions  of  the  tropics,  to  our  own  impover- 
ishment and  probable  undoing. 

Our  race-duty  is  therefore  clear.  We  must  resolutely 
oppose  both  Asiatic  permeation  of  white  race-areas 
and  Asiatic  inundation  of  those  non-white,  but  equally 
non-Asiatic,  regions  inhabited  by  the  really  inferior 
races.  But  we  should  also ,  recognize  that  by  taking 
this  attitude  we  debar  Asiatics  from  golden  opportuni- 
ties and  render  impossible  the  realization  of  aspirations 
intrinsically  just  as  normal  and  laudable  as  our  own. 
And,  having  closed  in  their  faces  so  many  doors  of 
hope,  can  we  refuse  to  discuss  with  gifted  and  capable 
Asiatics  the  problem  of  turning  over  to  them  the  keys 
of  their  own  house  without  causing  festering  hatreds 


THE    OUTER    DIKES  233 

whose  poison  may  spread  far  beyond  Asia  into  other 
colored  lands  and  possibly  into  white  lands  as  well? 
Neither  a  Pan-Colored  nor  a  Colored-Bolshevist  alliance 
are  impossibilities,  far-fetched  though  these  terms 
may  sound. 

The  fact  is,  we  whites  are  in  no  position  to  indulge 
in  the  luxury  of  Bourbonism/ ".  Weakened  by  Arma- 
geddon, hampered  by  Versailles,  and  harassed  by 
Bolshevism,  the  white  world  can  ill  afford  to  flout 
legitimate  Asiatic  aspirations  to  independence.  Our 
imperialists  may  argue  that  this  means  abandoning 
"outer  dikes,"  but  I  contend  that  white  positions  in 
Asia  are  not  protective  dikes  but  strategic  block- 
houses, built  upon  the  sands  during  the  long  Asiatic 
ebb-tide,  and  which  the  now  rising  Asiatic  waves  must 
ultimately  engulf.  Is  it  not  the  part  of  wisdom  to 
quit  these  outposts  before  they  collapse  into  the  swirl- 
ing waters?  Our  true  "outer  dikes"  stand,  not  in 
Asia,  but  in  Africa  and  Latin  America.  Let  us  not 
exhaust  ourselves  by  stubborn  resistance  in  Asia  which 
in  the  end  must  prove  futile.  Let  us  conserve  our 
strength,  remembering  that  by  the  time  Asia  has  been 
submerged  the  flood  should  have  lost  much  of  its  pent- 
up  power. 

Particularly  should  this  be  true  of  the  moral  "im- 
ponderables." By  taking  a  reasonable,  conciliatory 
attitude  toward  Asiatic  aspirations  to  independence 
we  would  thereby  eliminate  the  moral  factors  in  Asia's 
present  hostility  toward  ourselves.  Many  Asiatics 


234    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

would  still  be  our  foes  from  resentment  at  balked  ex- 
pansion, but  we  should  have  separated  the  sheep  from 
the  goats. 

And  the  sheep  are  the  more  numerous.  There  are 
of  course  irreconcilables  like  Japanese  imperialists  and 
Pan-Islamic  fanatics  who  would  like  to  upset  the  whole 
world.  However,  taken  by  and  large,  Asia  is  peopled 
neither  by  fire-eating  jingoes  nor  howling  dervishes. 
The  average  Asiatic  is  by  nature  less  restless,  less  am- 
bitious, and  consequently  less  aggressive  than  our- 
selves. To-day  Asiatics  are  everywhere  aroused  by  a 
whole  complex  of  stimuli  like  overcrowding,  white 
domination,  and  white  denial  of  nationalistic  aspira- 
tions, to  an  access  of  hatred  and  fury.  Those  last- 
mentioned  stimuli  to  anti-white  hostility  we  can  re- 
move. The  first-mentioned  cause  of  hostility — over- 
population— we  cannot  remove.  Only  the  Asiatic 
himself  can  do  that  by  controlling  his  reckless  procrea- 
tion. Of  course  over-population  is  of  itself  a  suffi- 
ciently serious  provoker  of  trouble.  There  is  no  more 
certain  breeder  of  strife  than  the  expansive  urge  of  a 
fast-breeding  people.  Nevertheless,  this  hostile  stimu- 
lus applies  primarily  to  yellow  Asia.  Brown  Asia, 
once  free  or  clearly  on  the  road  to  freedom,  would  be 
either  satisfied  or  engrossed  in  its  intestine  broils. 
At  any  rate,  the  twin  spectres  of  a  Pan-Asian  or  a 
Pan-Colored  alliance  would  probably  vanish  like  a 
mirage  of  the  desert,  and  the  white  world  would  be  far 
better  able  to  deal  with  yellow  pressure  on  its  race- 


THE    OUTER    DIKES  235 

frontiers—no  light  task,  weakened  and  distracted  as 
the  white  world  finds  itself  to-day. 

Unfortunately,  no  such  wise  foresight  seems  to  have 
been  vouchsafed  our  statesmen.  Imperialistic  secret 
treaties  formed  the  basis  for  Versailles's  treatment  of 
Asiatic  questions,  and  those  treaties  were  drawn  pre- 
cisely as  though  Armageddon  were  a  skirmish  and 
Asia  the  sleeping  giant  of  a  century  ago.  Upon  the 
brown  world,  in  particular,  white  domination  was 
riveted  rather  than  relaxed. 

This  amazing  disregard  of  present-day  realities  au- 
gurs ill  for  the  future.  Indeed,  its  evil  first-fruits  are 
already  apparent?.  The  brown  world,  convinced  that 
its  aspirations  can  be  realized  only  by  force,  turns  to 
the  yellow  world  and  listens  to  Bolshevik  propaganda, 
while  Pan-Islamism  redoubles  its  efforts  in  Africa. 

Thus  is  once  more  manifest  the  diplomatic  bank- 
ruptcy of  Versailles.  The  white  man,  like  King 
Canute,  seats  himself  upon  the  tidal  sands  and  bids 
the  waves  be  stayed.  He  will  be  lucky  if  he  escapes 
merely  with  wet  shoes. 


CHAPTER  XI 
THE  INNER  DIKES 

WE  come  now  to  the  frontiers  of  the  white  world — 
to  its  true  frontiers,  marked,  not  by  boundary-stones, 
but  by  flesh  and  blood.  These  frontiers  are  not  con- 
tinuous: far  from  the  European  homeland,  some  run 
in  remote  quarters  of  the  earth,  sundered  by  vast 
stretches  of  ocean  and  connected  only  by  the  slate- 
gray  thread  of  sea-power— the  master-talisman  which 
the  white  man  still  grasps  firmly  in  his  hand. 

But  against  these  race-frontiers — these  "inner  dikes" 
— the  rising  tide  of  color  has  for  decades  been  beating, 
and  will  beat  yet  more  fiercely  as  congesting  population, 
quickened  self-consciousness,  and  heightened  sense  of 
power  impel  the  colored  world  to  expansion  and  do- 
minion. Above  the  eastern  horizon  the  dark  storm- 
clouds  lower,  and  the  weakened,  distracted  white  world 
must  soon  face  a  colored  peril  threatening  its  integrity 
and  perhaps  its  existence.  This  colored  peril  has  three 
facets:  the  peril  of  arms,  the  peril  of  markets,  and  the 
peril  of  migration.  All  three  contain  ominous  potenti- 
alities, both  singly  and  in  combination.  Let  us  review 
them  in  turn,  to  appraise  their  dynamic  possibilities. 

First,  the  peril  of  arms.  The  military  potencies  of 
the  colored  races  have  been  the  subject  of  earnest,  and 
frequently  alarmist,  speculation  for  the  past  twenty 

236 


THE    INNER    DIKES  237 

years,  particularly  since  the  Russo-Japanese  War. 
The  exciting  effects  of  Pan-Islamism  upon  the  warlike 
peoples  of  Asia  and  Africa  have  been  frequently  dis- 
cussed, while  the  "Yellow  Peril"  has  long  been  a 
journalistic  commonplace. 

How  shall  we  appraise  the  colored  peril  of  arms  ?  On 
the  whole,  it  would  appear  as  though  the  colored  mili- 
tary danger,  in  its  isolated,  purely  aggressive  aspect, 
had  been  exaggerated.  Visions  of  a  united  Asia,  ris- 
ing suddenly  in  fanatic  frenzy  and  hurling  brown  and 
yellow  myriads  upon  the  white  West  seem  to  be  the 
products  of  superheated  imaginations.  I  say  "seem," 
because  there  are  unquestionably  mysterious  emotional 
depths  in  the  Asiatic  soul  which  may  yet  justify  the 
prophets  of  cataclysmic  war.  As  Hyndman  says: 
"With  all  the  facts  before  us,  and  with  prejudice 
thrown  aside,  we  are  still  unable  to  lay  bare  the  causes 
of  the  gigantic  Asian  movements  of  the  past.  They 
were  certainly  not  all  economic  in  their  origin,  unless 
we  stretch  the  boundaries  of  theory  so  far  as  to  include 
the  massacre  of  whole  populations  and  the  destruction 
of  their  wealth  within  the  limits  of  the  invaders'  desire 
for  material  gain.  And,  whether  these  movements 
arose  from  material  or  emotional  causes,  they  have 
been  before,  and  they  may  occur  again.  Forecast  here 
is  impossible.  A  new  Mohammed  is  quite  as  likely  to 
make  his  appearance  as  a  new  Buddha,  a  reborn  Con- 
fucius, or  a  modern  Christ.  .  .  .  Asia  raided  and 
scourged  Europe  for  more  than  a  thousand  years. 
Now,  for  five  hundred  years,  the  counter-attack  of 


238    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Europe  upon  Asia  has  been  steadily  going  on,  and  it 
may  be  that  the  land  of  long  memories  will  cherish  some 
desire  to  avenge  this  period  of  wrong  and  rapine  in 
turn.  The  seed  of  hatred  has  already  been  but  too 
well  sown."1 

Of  course,  on  this  particular  point,  forecast  is,  in- 
deed, impossible.  Nevertheless,  the  point  should  be 
noted,  for  Asiatic  war-fever  may  appear,  if  not  in 
isolation,  then  in  conjunction  with  other  stimuli  to 
warlike  action,  like  population-pressure  or  imperialistic 
ambition,  which  to-day  exist  and  whose  amplitude  can 
be  approximately  gauged.  We  have  already  analyzed 
the  military  potencies  of  Pan-Islamism  and  Japan,  and 
China  also  should  not  be  forgotten.  Pacifist  though 
China  has  long  been,  she  has  had  her  bellicose  moments 
in  the  past  and  may  have  them  in  the  future.  Should 
this  occur,  China,  as  the  world's  greatest  reservoir  of 
intelligent  man-power,  would  be  immensely  formidable. 
Pearson  visualizes  a  China  "become  an  aggressive 
military  power,  sending  out  her  armies  in  millions  to 
cross  the  Himalayas  and  traverse  the  Steppes,  or 
occupying  the  islands  and  the  northern  parts  of  Aus- 
tralia, by  pouring  in  immigrants  protected  by  fleets. 
Luther's  old  name  for  the  Turks,  that  they  were  'the 
people  of  the  wrath  of  God/  may  receive  a  new  and 
terrible  application."2 

Granted  that  the  Chinese  will  never  become  the 

iH.  M.  Hyndman,  "The  Awakening  of  Asia,"  pp.  267-8.     (1 
York,  1919). 
3  Pearson,  pp.  140-1, 


THE    INNER    DIKES  239 

fighting  equals  of  the  world's  warrior  races,  their  in- 
credible numbers  combined  with  their  tenacious  vital- 
ity might  overcome  opponents  individually  their  su- 
periors. Says  Professor  Ross:  "To  the  West  the 
toughness  of  the  Chinese  physique  may  have  a  sinister 
military  significance.  Nobody  fears  lest  in  a  stand-up 
fight  Chinese  troops  could  whip  an  equal  number  of 
well-conditioned  white  troops.  But  few  battles  are 
fought  by  men  fresh  from  tent  and  mess.  In  the  course 
of  a  prolonged  campaign  involving  irregular  provision- 
ing, bad  drinking-water,  lying  out,  loss  of  sleep,  ex- 
hausting marches,  exposure,  excitement,  and  anxiety, 
it  may  be  that  the  white  soldiers  would  be  worn  down 
worse  than  the  yellow  soldiers.  In  that  case  the  har- 
dier men  with  less  of  the  martial  spirit  might  in  the 
closing  grapple  beat  the  better  fighters  with  the  less 
endurance."1 

The  potentialities  of  the  Chinese  soldier  would  ac- 
quire vastly  greater  significance  if  China  should  be 
thoroughly  subjugated  by,  or  solidly  leagued  to,  ambi- 
tious and  militaristic  Japan.  The  combined  military 
energies  of  the  Far  East,  welded  into  an  aggressive 
unity,  would  be  a  weapon  of  tremendous  striking-power. 

The  colored  peril  of  arms  may  thus  be  summarized: 
The  brown  and  yellow  races  possess  great  military  po- 
tentialities. These  (barring  the  action  of  certain  ill- 
understood  emotional  stimuli)  are  unlikely  to  flame 
out  in  spontaneous  fanaticism;  but,  on  the  other  hand, 

1  Edward  Alsworth  Ros8,  "The  Changing  Chinese,". pp.  4G-47  (New 
York,  1911). 


240    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

they  are  very  likely  to  be  mobilized  for  political  rea- 
sons like  revolt  against  white  dominion  or  for  social 
reasons  like  over-population.  The  black  race  offers  no 
real  danger  except  as  the  tool  of  Pan-Islamism.  As 
for  the  red  men  of  the  Americas,  they  are  of  merely 
local  significance. 

We  are  now  ready  to  examine  the  economic  facet  of 
the  colored  peril:  the  industrial-mercantile  phase. 
In  the  second  part  of  this  volume  I  showed  the  pro- 
found effect  of  the  "industrial  revolution"  in  furthering 
white  world-supremacy,  and  I  pointed  out  the  tremen- 
dous advantages  accruing  to  the  white  world  from  ex- 
ploitation of  undeveloped  colored  lands  and  from  ex- 
ports of  manufactured  goods  to  colored  markets.  The 
prodigious  wealth  thereby  amassed  has  been  a  prime 
cause  of  white  prosperity,  has  buttressed  the  main- 
tenance of  white  world-hegemony,  and  has  made 
possible  much  of  the  prodigious  increase  of  white  popu- 
lation. 

We  little  realize  what  the  loss  of  these  advantages 
would  mean.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  would  mean 
throughout  the  white  world  diminished  prosperity, 
lessened  political  and  military  strength,  and  such  rela- 
tive economic  and  social  stagnation  as  would  depress 
national  vigor  and  check  population.  It  is  even  possi- 
ble to  visualize  a  white  world  reverting  to  the  condition 
of  Europe  in  the  fifteenth  century— thrown  back  upon 
itself,  on  the  defensive,  and  with  a  static  rather  than 
a  progressive  civilization.  Such  conditions  could  of 
course  occur  only  as  the  result  of  colored  military  and 


THE    INNER    DIKES  241 

industrial  triumphs  of  the  most  sweeping  character. 
But  the  possibility  exists,  nevertheless,  as  I  shall  en- 
deavor to  show. 

Down  to  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century  white 
supremacy  was  as  absolute  in  industry  as  it  was  in 
politics  and  war.  Even  the  civilized  brown  and  yellow 
peoples  were  negligible  from  the  industrial  point  of 
view.  Asia  was  economically  on  an  agricultural  basis. 
Such  industries  as  she  possessed  were  still  in  the  "house- 
industry"  stage,  and  her  products,  while  often  exquisite 
in  quality,  were  produced  by  such  slow,  antiquated 
methods  that  their  quantity  was  limited  and  their 
market-price  relatively  high.  Despite  very  low  wages, 
Asiatic  products  not  only  could  not  compete  in  the 
world-market  with  European  and  American  machine- 
made,  mass-produced  articles,  but  were  hard  hit  in 
their  home-markets  as  well.  The  way  in  which  an 
ancient  Asiatic  handicraft  like  the  Indian  textiles  was 
literally  annihilated  by  the  destructive  competition  of 
Lancashire  cottons  is  only  one  of  many  similar  instances. 

With  the  beginning  of  the  twentieth  century,  how- 
ever, Asia  began  to  show  signs  of  an  economic  activity 
as  striking  in  its  way  as  the  activity  which  Asia  was 
displaying  in  idealistic  and  political  fields.  Japan  had 
already  laid  the  foundations  of  her  flourishing  indus- 
trial hie  based  on  the  most  up-to-date  Western  models, 
while  in  other  Asiatic  lands,  notably  in  China  and 
India,  the  whir  of  machinery  and  the  smoke  of  tall 
factoiy  chimneys  proclaimed  that  the  East  was  fathom- 
ing the  industrial  secrets  of  the  West. 


242    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

What  Asiatics  were  seeking  in  their  industrial  re- 
vival was  well  expressed  a  decade  ago  by  a  Hindu, 
who  wrote  in  a  leading  Indian  periodical:  rln  one 
respect  the  Orient  is  really  menacing  the  West,  and 
so  earnest  and  open-minded  is  Asia  that  no  pretense 
or  apology  whatever  is  made  about  it.  The  Easterner 
has  ^thrown  down  the  industrial  gantlet,  and  from 
now  on  Asia  is  destined  to  witness  a  progressively  in- 
tense trade  warfare,  the  Occidental  scrambling  to  re- 
tain his  hold  on  the  markets  of  the  East,  and  the  Orien- 
tal endeavoring  to  beat  him  in  a  battle  in  which  here- 
tofore he  has  been  an  easy  victor.  ...  In  competing 
with  the  Occidental  commercialists,  the  Oriental  has 
awakened  to  a  dynamic  realization  of  the  futility  of 
pitting  unimproved  machinery  and  methods  against 
modern  methods  and  appliances.  Casting  aside  his 
former  sense  of  self-complacency,  he  is  studying  the 
sciences  and  arts  that  have  given  the  West  its  material 
prosperity.  He  is  putting  the  results  of  his  investi- 
gations to  practical  use,  as  a  rule,  recasting  the  Occi- 
dental methods  and  tools  to  suit  his  peculiar  needs, 
and  in  some  instances  improving  upon  them."1) 

The  accuracy  of  this  Hindu  statement  of  Asia's  in- 
dustrial awakening  is  indorsed  by  the  statements  of 
white  observers.  At  the  very  moment  when  the  above 
article  was  penned,  an  American  economic  writer,  Clar- 
ence Poe,  was  making  a  study  tour  of  the  Orient,  froi 
which  he  brought  back  the  following  report:  "Th< 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  November  6,  1910,  p.  786  (from  The  Ji 
Review,  Madras). 


THE    INNER    DIKES  243 

real  cause  of  Asia's  poverty  lies  in  just  two  things: 
the  failure  of  Asiatic  governments  to  educate  their 
people,  and  the  failure  of  the  people  to  increase  their 
productive  capacity  by  the  use  of  machinery.  Igno- 
rance and  lack  of  machinery  are  responsible  for  Asia's 
poverty;  knowledge  and  modern  tools  are  responsible 
for  America's  prosperity."  But,  continues  Mr.  Poe, 
we  must  watch  out.  Asia  now  realizes  these  things 
and  is  doing  much  to  remedy  the  situation.  Hence, 
"we  must  face  in  ever-increasing  degree  the  rivalry 
of  awakening  peoples  who  are  strong  with  the  strength 
that  comes  from  struggle  with  poverty  and  hardship, 
and  who  have  set  themselves  to  master  and  apply  all 
our  secrets  in  the  coming  world-struggle  for  industrial 
supremacy  and  for  racial  readjustment."1  And  more 
recently  another  American  observer  of  Asiatic  eco- 
nomic conditions  reports :  "  All  Asia  is  being  permeated 
with  modern  industry  and  present-day  mechanical 
progress."2 

Take,  for  example,  the  momentous  possibilities  in- 
volved in  the  industrial  awakening  of  China.  China 
is  not  merely  the  most  populous  of  lands,  containing 
as  it  does  nearly  one-fourth  of  all  the  human  beings 
on  earth,  but  it  is  also  dowered  with  immense  natural 
resources,  notably  coal  and  iron — the  prime  requisites 
of  modern  industrial  life.  Hitherto  China  has  been 
on  an  agricultural  basis,  with  virtually  no  exploitation 

Clarence  Poe,  "What  the  Orient  Can  Teach  Us,"  World's  Work, 
July,  1911. 

Clayton  S.  Cooper,  "The  Modernizing  of  the  Orient,"  p.  5  (New 
York,  1914). 


244    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

of  her  mineral  wealth  and  with  no  industry  in  the  mod- 
ern sense.  But  the  day  when  any  considerable  frac- 
tion of  China's  laborious  millions  turn  from  the  plough 
and  handicrafts  to  the  factory  must  see  a  portentous 
reaction  in  the  most  distant  markets. 

Thirty  years  ago,  Professor  Pearson  forecast  China's 
imminent  industrial  transformation.  "Does  any  one 
doubt,"  he  asks,  "that  the  day  is  at  hand  when  China 
will  have  cheap  fuel  from  her  coal-mines,  cheap  trans- 
port by  railways  and  steamers,  and  will  have  founded 
technical  schools  to  develop  her  industries?  When- 
ever that  day  comes,  she  may  wrest  the  control  of  the 
world's  markets,  especially  throughout  Asia,  from 
England  and  Germany."1 

Much  of  what  Professor  Pearson  prophesied  has 
already  come  to  pass,  for  China  to-day  has  the  begin- 
nings of  a  promising  industrial  life.  Even  a  decade 
ago  Professor  Ross  wrote  of  industrial  conditions  there: 

"Assuredly  the  cheapness  of  Chinese  labor  is  some- 
thing to  make  a  factory  owner's  mouth  water.  The 
women  reelers  in  the  silk  filatures  of  Shanghai  get  from 
eight  to  eleven  cents  for  eleven  hours  of  work.  But 
Shanghai  is  dear;  and,  besides,  everybody  there  com- 
plains that  the  laborers  are  knowing  and  spoiled.  In 
the  steel  works  at  Hanyang  common  labor  gets  three 
dollars  a  month,  just  a  tenth  of  what  raw  Slavs  com- 
mand in  the  South  Chicago  iron-works.  Skilled  me- 
chanics get  from  eight  to  twelve  dollars.  In  a  coal- 
mine near  Ichang  a  thousand  miles  up  the  Yangtse 

1  Pearson,  p.  133. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  245 

the  coolie  receives  one  cent  for  carrying  a  400-pound 
load  of  coal  on  his  back  down  to  the  river  a  mile  and 
a  half  away.  He  averages  ten  loads  a  day  but  must 
rest  every  other  week.  The  miners  get  seven  cents  a 
day  and  found;  that  is,  a  cent's  worth  of  rice  and  meal. 
They  work  eleven  hours  a  day  up  to  their  knees  in 
water,  and  aU  have  swollen  legs.  After  a  week  of  it 
they  have  to  lie  off  a  couple  of  days.  No  wonder  the 
cost  of  this  coal  (semi-bituminous)  at  the  pit's  mouth 
is  only  thirty-five  cents  a  ton.  At  Chengtu  servants 
get  a  dollar  and  a  half  a  month  and  find  themselves. 
Across  Szechuan  lusty  coolies  were  glad  to  carry  our 
chairs  half  a  day  for  four  cents  each.  In  Sianfu  the 
common  coolie  gets  three  cents  a  day  and  feeds  him- 
self, or  eighty  cents  a  month.  Through  Shansi  roving 
harvesters  were  earning  from  four  to  twelve  cents  a 
day,  and  farm-hands  got  five  or  six  dollars  a  year  and 
their  keep.  Speaking  broadly,  in  any  part  of  the  em- 
pire, willing  laborers  of  fair  intelligence  may  be  had 
in  any  number  at  from  eight  to  fifteen  cents  a  day. 
With  an  ocean  of  such  labor  power  to  draw  on, 
la  would  appear  to  be  on  the  eve  of  a  manufac- 
development  that  will  act  like  a  continental 

)heaval  in  changing  the  trade  map  of  the  world.   The 

ipression  is  deepened  by  the  tale  of  industries  that 

Lve  already  sprung  up."1 

Of  course  there  is  another  side  to  the  story*    Low 
;es  alone  do  not  insure  cheap  production.    As  Pro- 
>r  Ross  remarks:  "For  all  his  native  capacity,  the 

1  Ross,  pp.  117-118. 


246    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

— •*. 

coolie  will  need  a  long  course  of  schooling,  industrial 
training,  and  factory  atmosphere  before  he  inches  up 
abreast  of  the  German  or  American  working  man."1 
In  the  technical  and  directing  staffs  there  is  the  same 
absence  of  the  modern  industrial  spirit,  resulting  in 
chronic  mismanagement,  while  Chinese  industry  is 
further  handicapped  by  traditional  evils  like  " squeeze," 
nepotism,  lust  for  quick  profits,  and  incapacity  for 
sustained  business  team-play.  These  failings  are  not 
peculiar  to  China;  they  hamper  the  industrial  develop- 
ment of  other  Asiatic  countries,  notably  India.  Still, 
the  way  in  which  Japanese  industry,  with  all  its  faults, 
is  perfecting  both  its  technic  and  its  methods  shows 
that  these  failings  will  be  gradually  overcome  and  in- 
dicates that  within  a  generation  Asiatic  industry  will 
probably  be  sufficiently  advanced  to  supply  at  least 
the  Asiatic  home-markets  with  most  of  the  staple 
manufactures. 

Thus  it  looks  as  though  white  manufactures  will 
tend  to  be  progressively  eliminated  from  Asiatic  mar- 
kets, even  under  conditions  of  absolutely  free  com- 
petition. But  it  is  a  very  moot  point  whether  com- 
petition will  remain  free — whether,  on  the  contrary, 
white  wares  will  not  be  increasingly  penalized.  The 
Asiatic  takes  a  keen  interest  in  his  industrial  develop- 
ment and  consciously  favors  it  even  where  whites  are 
iii  political  control.  The  "swadeshi"  movement  in 
India  is  a  good  example,  while  the  Chinese  and  Egyp- 
tian boycotts  of  foreign  as  against  native  goods  are 

1  Ross,  p.  119. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  247 

further  instances  in  point.  The  Japanese  have  sup- 
plemented these  spontaneous  popular  movements  by 
systematic  governmental  discrimination  in  favor  of 
Japanese  products  and  the  elimination  of  white  com- 
petition from  Japan  and  its  dependencies.  This  Japa- 
nese policy  has  been  markedly  successful,  and  should 
Japan 's  present  hegemony  over  China  be  perpetuated 
the  white  man  may  soon  find  himself  economically  as 
well  as  politically  expelled  from  the  whole  Far  East. 

A  decade  ago  Putnam  Weale  wrote  warningly:  "If 
China  is  forced,  owing  to  the  short-sighted  diplomacy 
of  those  for  whom  the  question  has  really  supreme 
importance,  to  make  common  cause  with  Japan  as  a 
pis  oiler,  then  it  may  be  accepted  as  inevitable  that 
in  the  course  of  time  there  will  be  created  a  mare 
clausum,  which  will  extend  from  the  island  of  Saghalien 
down  to  Cochin-China  and  Siam,  including  all  the 
island-groups,  and  the  shores  of  which  will  be  openly 
hostile  to  the  white  man.  .  .  . 

"And  since  there  will  be  no  danger  from  the  compe- 
tition of  white  workmen,  but  rather  from  the  white 
man's  ships,  the  white  man's  merchants,  his  inven- 
tions, his  produce — it  will  be  these  which  will  be  sub- 
jected to  humiliating  conditions.  ...  It  is  not  a 
very  far  cry  from  tariffs  on  goods  to  tariffs  and  re- 
strictions on  foreign  shipping,  on  foreign  merchants, 
on  everything  foreign — restrictions  which  by  impos- 
ing vast  and  unequal  burdens  on  the  activities  of 
aliens  will  soon  totally  destroy  such  activities.  .  .  . 
it  can  very  easily  happen  is  that  the  federation 


248    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

of  eastern  Asia  and  the  yellow  races  will  be  finally 
arranged  in  such  a  manner  as  to  exclude  the  white 
man  and  his  commerce  more  completely  than  any 
one  yet  dreams  of."1 

This  latter  .misfortune  may  be  averted  by  concerted 
white  action,  but  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  the  gradual 
elimination  of  white  goods  from  Asiatic  markets  as 
the  result  of  successful  Asiatic  competition  can  be 
averted.  Certainly  the  stubborn  maintenance  of  white 
political  domination  over  a  rebellious  Asia  would  be 
no  remedy.  That  would  merely  intensify  swadeshi 
boycotts  in  the  subject  regions,  while  in  the  lands  freed 
from  white  political  control  it  would  further  Japan's 
policy  of  excluding  everything  white.  If  Asiatics  re- 
solve to  buy  their  own  products  instead  of  ours  we 
may  as  well  reconcile  ourselves  to  the  loss.  Here  again 
frank  recognition  of  the  inevitable  will  enable  us  to 
take  a  much  stronger  and  more  justifiable  position 
on  the  larger  world-aspects  of  the  problem. 

For  Asia's  industrial  transformation  is  destined  to 
cause  momentous  reactions  in  other  parts  of  the  globe. 
If  Asiatic  industry  really  does  get  on  an  efficient  basis, 
its  potentialities  are  so  tremendous  that  it  must  pres- 
ently not  only  monopolize  the  home-markets  but  also 
seek  to  invade  white  markets  as  well,  thus  presenting 
the  white  world  with  commercial  and  economic  prob- 
lems as  unwelcome  as  they  will  be  novel. 

Again,  industrialization  will  in  some  respects  ag- 
gravate Asiatic  longings  for  migration  and  dominion. 

1  B.  L.  Putnam  Weale,  "The  Conflict  of  Color,"  pp.  179-181. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  249 

In  my  opening  pages  I  mentioned  industrialization  as 
a  probable  reliever  of  population-pressure  in  Asiatic 
countries  by  affording  new  livelihoods  to  the  congested 
masses.  This  is  true.  But,  looking  a  trifle  farther, 
we  can  also  see  that  industrialization  would  stimulate 
a  further  prodigious  increase  of  population.  Consider 
the  growth  of  Europe's  population  during  the  nine- 
teenth century  under  the  stimulus  of  the  industrial 
revolution,  making  possible  the  existence  in  our  in- 
dustrialized Europe  of  three  times  as  many  people 
as  existed  in  the  agricultural  Europe  of  a  hundred 
years  ago.  Why  should  not  a  similar  development 
occur  in  Asia?  To-day  Asia,  though  still  upon  a  basis 
as  agricultural  as  eighteenth-century  Europe,  contains 
fully  900,000,000  people.  That  even  a  partially  in- 
dustrialized Asia  might  support  twice  that  number 
would  (judging  by  the  European  precedent)  be  far 
from  improbable. 

But  this  would  mean  vastly  increased  incentives 
to  expansion — commercial,  political,  racial — beyond 
the  bounds  of  Asia.  It  would  mean  intensified  en- 
croachments, not  only  upon  areas  of  white  settlement, 
but  perhaps  even  more  upon  non-Asiatic  colored  regions 
of  white  political  control  like  Africa  and  tropical  Amer- 
ica. Here  again  we  see  why  the  white  man,  however 
conciliatory  in  Asia,  must  stand  like  flint  in  Africa 
and  Latin  America.  To  allow  the  whole  tropic  belt 
clear  round  the  world  to  pass  into  Asiatic  hands  would 
practically  spell  white  race-suicide. 

Professor  Pearson  paints  a  truly  terrible  picture 


250    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

of  the  stagnation  and  hopelessness  which  would  ensue. 
"Let  us  conceive,"  he  writes,  "the  leading  European 
nations  to  be  stationary,  while  the  black  and  yellow 
belt,  including  China,  Malaysia,  India,  central  Africa, 
and  tropical  America,  is  all  teeming  with  life,  developed 
by  industrial  enterprise,  fairly  well  administered  by 
native  governments,  and  owning  the  better  part  of 
the  carrying  trade  of  the  world.  Can  any  one  suppose 
that,  in  such  a  condition  of  political  society,  the  habitual 
temper  of  mind  in  Europe  would  not  be  profoundly 
changed?  Depression,  hopelessness,  a  disregard  of 
invention  and  improvement,  would  replace  the  sanguine 
confidence  of  races  that  at  present  are  always  panting 
for  new  worlds  to  conquer.  Here  and  there,  it  may  be, 
the  more  adventurous  would  profit  by  the  traditions 
of  old  supremacy  to  get  their  services  accepted  in  the 
new  nations,  but  as  a  rule  there  would  be  no  outlet 
for  energy,  no  future  for  statesmanship.  The  despon- 
dency of  the  English  people,  when  their  dream  of  con- 
quest in  France  was  dissipated,  was  attended  with  a 
complete  decay  of  thought,  with  civil  war,  and  with 
a  standing  still,  or  perhaps  a  decline  of  population,  and 
to  a  less  degree  of  wealth.  ...  It  is  conceivable  that 
our  later  world  may  find  itself  deprived  of  all  that  is 
valued  on  earth,  of  the  pageantry  of  subject  provinces 
and  the  reality  of  commerce,  while  it  has  neither  a 
disinterred  literature  to  amuse  it  nor  a  vitalized  religion 
to  give  it  spiritual  strength."  * 
To  sum  up :  The  economic  phase  of  the  colored  peril, 

1  Pearson,  pp.  138,  139. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  251 

though  not  yet  a  major  factor,  must  still  be  seriously 
reckoned  with  by  forward-looking  statesmanship  as 
something  which  will  increasingly  complicate  the  re- 
lations of  the  white  and  non-white  worlds.  In  fact, 
even  to-day  it  tends  to  intensify  Asiatic  desires  for 
expansion,  and  thus  exacerbates  the  third,  or  migra- 
tory, phase  of  the  colored  peril,  which  is  already  upon 
us. 

The  question  of  Asiatic  immigration  is  incomparably 
the  greatest  external  problem  which  faces  the  white 
world.  Supreme  phase  of  the  colored  peril,  it  already 
presses,  and  is  destined  to  press  harder  in  the  near 
future.  It  infinitely  transcends  the  peril  of  arms  or 
markets,  since  it  threatens  not  merely  our  supremacy 
or  prosperity  but  our  very  race-existence,  the  well- 
springs  of  being,  the  sacred  heritage  of  our  children. 

That  this  is  no  overstatement  of  the  issue,  a  bare 
recital  of  a  few  biological  axioms  will  show.  We  have 
already  seen  that  nothing  is  more  unstable  than  the 
racial  make-up  of  a  people,  while,  conversely,  nothing 
is  more  unchanging  than  the  racial  divisions  of  man- 
kind. We  have  seen  that  true  amalgamation  is  pos- 
sible only  between  members  of  the  same  race-stock, 
while  in  crossings  between  stocks  even  as  relatively 
near  together  as  the  main  divisions  of  the  white  species, 
the  race-characters  do  not  really  fuse  but  remain  dis- 
tinct in  the  mixed  offspring  and  tend  constantly  to 
resort  themselves  as  pure  types  by  Mendelian  inheri- 
tance. Thus  a  country  inhabited  by  a  mixed  popula- 
tion is  really  inhabited  by  different  races,  one  of  which 


252    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOR 

always  tends  to  dominate  and  breed  the  other  out— 
the  outbred  strains  being  lost  to  the  world  forever. 

Now,  since  the  various  human  stocks  differ  widely 
in  genetic  worth,  nothing  should  be  more  carefully 
studied  than  the  relative  values  of  the  different  strains 
in  a  population,  and  nothing  should  be  more  rigidly 
scrutinized  than  new  strains  seeking  to  add  themselves 
to  a  population,  because  such  new  strains  may  hold 
simply  incalculable  potentialities  for  good  or  for  evil. 
The  potential  reproductive  powers  of  any  stock  are 
almost  urilimited.  Therefore  the  introduction  of  even 
a  small  group  of  prolific  and  adaptable  but  racially  un- 
desirable aliens  may  result  in  their  subsequent  prodi- 
gious multiplication,  thereby  either  replacing  better 
native  stocks  or  degrading  these  by  the  injection  of 
inferior  blood. 

The  admission  of  aliens  should,  indeed,  be  regarded 
just  as  solemnly  as  the  begetting  of  children,  for  the 
racial  effect  is  essentially  the  same.  There  is  no  more 
damning  indictment  of  our  lopsided,  materialistic 
civilization  than  the  way  in  which,  throughout  the 
nineteenth  century,  immigration  was  almost  univer- 
sally regarded,  not  from  the  racial,  but  from  the  ma- 
terial point  of  view,  the  immigrant  being  viewed  not 
as  a  creator  of  race-values  but  as  a  mere  vocal  tool 
for  the  production  of  material  wealth./ 

Immigration  is  thus,  from  the  racial  standpoint,  a 
form  of  procreation,  and  like  the  more  immediate  form 
of  procreation  it  may  be  either  the  greatest  blessing 
or  the  greatest  curse.  Human  history  is  largely  the 


THE    INNER    DIKES  253 

story  of  migrations,  making  now  for  good  and  now 
for  ill.  Migration  peopled  Europe  with  superior  white 
stocks  displacing  ape-lie  aborigines,  and  settled  North 
America  with  Nordics  instead  of  nomad  redskins.  But 
migration  also  bastardized  the  Roman  world  with 
Levantine  mongrels,  drowned  the  West  Indies  under 
a  black  tide,  and  is  filling  our  own  land  with  the  sweep- 
ings of  the  European  east  and  south. 

Migration,  like  other  natural  movements,  is  of  itself 
a  blind  force.  It  is  man's  divine  privilege  as  well  as 
duty,  having  been  vouchsafed  knowledge  of  the  laws 
of  life,  to  direct  these  blind  forces,  rejecting  the  bad 
and  selecting  the  good  for  the  evolution  of  higher  and 
nobler  destinies. 

Colored  immigration  is  merely  the  most  extreme 
phase  of  a  phenomenon  which  has  already  moulded 
prodigiously  the  development  of  the  white  world.  In 
fact,  before  discussing  the  specific  problems  of  colored 
immigration,  it  would  be  well  to  survey  the  effects  of 
the  immigration  of  various  white  stocks.  When  we 
have  grasped  the  momentous  changes  wrought  by  the 
introduction  of  even  relatively  near-related  and  hence 
relatively  assimilable  strains,  we  will  be  better  able  to 
realize  the  far  more  momentous  consequences  which  the 
-introduction  of  colored  stocks  into  white  lands  would 
entail. 

The  racial  effects  of  immigration  are  ably  summarized 
by  that  lifelong  student  of  immigration  problems, 
Prescott  F.  Hall.  These  effects  are,  he  truly  remarks, 
"more  far-reaching  and  potent  than  all  others.  The 


254    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

government,  the  state,  society,  industry,  the  political 
party,  social  and  political  ideals,  all  are  concepts  and 
conventions  created  by  individual  men;  and  when 
individuals  change  these  change  with  them.  Recent 
discoveries  in  biology  show  that  in  the  long  run  hered- 
ity is  far  more  important  than  environment  or  educa- 
tion; for  though  the  latter  can  develop,  it  cannot 
create.  They  also  show  what  can  be  done  in  a  few 
years  in  altering  species,  and  in  producing  new  ones 
with  qualities  hitherto  unknown,  or  unknown  in  com- 
bination." l 

The  way*  in  which  admixture  of  alien  blood  can 
modify  or  even  destroy  the  very  soul  of  a  people  have 
been  fully  analyzed  both  by  biologists  and  by  social 
psychologists  like  Doctor  Gustave  Le  Bon.2  The  way 
in  which  wholesale  immigration,  even  though  mainly 
white,  has  already  profoundly  modified  American  na- 
tional character  is  succinctly  stated  by  Mr.  Eliot 
Norton.  "If,"  he  writes,  "one  considers  the  American 
people  from,  say,  1775  to  1860,  it  is  clear  that  a  well- 
defined  national  character  was  in  process  of  formation. 
What  variations  there  were,  were  all  of  the  same  type, 
and  these  variations  would  have  slowly  grown  less  and 
less  marked.  It  needs  little  study  to  see  of  what  great 
value  to  any  body  of  men,  women,  and  children  a 
national  or  racial  type  is.  It  furnishes  a  standard  of 
conduct  by  which  any  one  can  set  his  course.  The 
world  is  a  difficult  place  in  which  to  live,  and  to  es- 

1  Prescott  F.  Hall,  "Immigration,"  p.  99  (New  York,  1907). 
3  See  especially  his  "Psychology  of  Peoples"  (London,  1898,  English 
translation). 


THE    INNER    DIKES 

tablish  moral  standards  has  been  one  of  the  chief  occu- 
pations of  mankind.  Without  such  standards,  man 
feels  as  a  mariner  without  a  compass.  Religions,  rules, 
laws,  and  customs  are  only  the  national  character  in 
the  form  of  standards  of  conduct.  Now  national  char- 
acter can  be  formed  only  in  a  population  which  is 
stable.  The  repeated  introduction  into  a  body  of  men 
of  other  men  of  different  type  or  types  cannot  but  tend 
to  prevent  its  formation.  Thus  the  19,000,000  of  im- 
migrants that  have  landed  have  tended  to  break  up 
the  type  which  was  forming,  and  to  make  the  forma- 
tion of  any  other  type  difficult.  Every  million  more 
will  only  intensify  this  result,  and  the  absence  of  a 
national  character  is  a  loss  to  every  man,  woman,  and 
child.  It  will  show  itself  in  our  religions,  rules  of  con- 
duct, in  our  laws,  in  our  customs."  1 

The  vital  necessity  of  restriction  and  selection  in 
immigration  to  conserve  and  build  race-values  is  thus 
set  forth  by  Mr.  Hall: 

"There  is  one  aspect  of  immigration  restriction  in 
the  various  countries  which  does  not  often  receive  much 
attention ;  namely,  the  possibility  of  its  use  as  a  method 
of  world-eugenics.  Most  persons  think  of  migration 
in  terms  of  space — as  the  moving  of  a  certain  number 
of  people  from  one  part  of  the  earth's  surface  to  an- 
other. Whereas  the  much  more  important  aspect  of 
it  is  that  of  a  functioning  in  time. 

1  Eliot  Norton,  in  Annals  of  the  American  Academy  of  Political  and 
Social  Science,  vol.  XXIV,  p.  163,  July,  1904.  Of  course,  since  Mr.  Nor- 
ton wrote,  millions  more  aliens  have  entered  the  United  States,  land  the 
situation  is  much  wors«. 


256    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

"This  comes  from  two  facts.  The  first  is  that  the 
vacuum  left  in  any  country  by  emigration  is  rapidly 
filled  up  through  a  rise  in  the  birth-rate.  .  .  .  The  sec- 
ond fact  is  that  immigration  to  any  country  of  a  given 
stratum  of  population  tends  to  sterilize  all  strata  of 
higher  social  and  economic  levels  already  in  that  coun- 
try. -isJSo  true  is  this  that  nearly  all  students  of  the  mat- 
ter are  agreed  that  the  United  States  would  have  a 
larger  population  to-day  if  there  had  been  no  immi- 
gration since  1820,  and,  it  is  needless  to  add,  a  much 
more  homogeneous  population.  As  long  as  the  people 
of  any  community  are  relatively  homogeneous,  what 
differences  of  wealth  and  social  position  there  may  be 
do  not  affect  the  birth-rate,  or  do  so  only  after  a  con- 
siderable time.  But  put  into  that  community  a  num- 
ber of  immigrants,  inferior  mentally,  socially,  and 
economically,  and  the  natives  are  unwilling  to  have 
their  children  associate  with  them  in  work  or  social 
life.  They  then  limit  the  number  of  their  children  in 
order  to  give  them  the  capital  or  education  to  enter 
occupations  in  which  they  will  not  be  brought  into 
contact  with  the  new  arrivals.  This  result  is  quite 
apparent  in  New  England,  where  successive  waves  of 
immigration  from  lower  and  lower  levels  have  been 
coming  in  for  eighty  years.  In  the  West,  the  same 
New  England  stock  has  a  much  higher  birth-rate,, 
showing  that  its  fertility  is  in  no  way  diminished.  In 
the  South,  where  until  very  recently  there  was  no  immi- 
gration at  all,  and  the  only  socially  inferior  race  was 
clearly  separated  by  the  accident  of  color,  the  birth- 


THE    INNER    DIKES  267 

rate  has  remained  very  high,  and  the  very  large  fami- 
lies of  the  colonial  period  are  even  now  not  uncommon. 

"This  is  not  to  say  that  other  causes  do  not  contrib- 
ute to  lower  the  birth-rate  of  a  country,  for  that  is  an 
almost  world-wide  phenomenon.    But  the  desire  to 
be  separated  from  inferiors  is  as  strong  a  motive  to 
birth-control  as  the  desire  for  luxury  or  to  ape  one's 
economic  superiors.    Races  follow  Gresham's  law  as 
to  money:  the  poorer  of  two  kinds  in  the  same  place 
tends  to  supplant  the  better.    Mark  you,  supplant,  not 
drive  out.    One  of  the  most  common  fallacies  is  theV 
idea  that  the  natives  whose  places  are  taken  by  the  \ 
lower  immigrants  are  ' driven  up'  to  more  responsible 
positions.    A  few  may  be  pushed  up;  more  are  driven    / 
to  a  new  locality,  as  happened  in  the  mining  regions;  / 
but  most  are  prevented  from  coming  into  existence  at  aft.  ^ 

"What  is  the  result,  then,  of  the  migration  of 
1,000,000  persons  of  lower  level  into  a  country  where 
the  average  is  of  a  higher  level?  Considering  the 
world  as  a  whole,  there  are,  after  a  few  years,  2,000,000 
persons  of  the  lower  type  in  the  world,  and  probably 
from  500,000  to  1,000,000  less  of  the  higher  type.  The 
proportion  of  lower  to  higher  in  the  country  from 
which  the  migration  goes  may  remain  the  same;  but 
in  the  country  receiving  it,  it  has  risen.  Is  the  world 
as  a  whole  the  gainer? 

"Of  course  the  euthenist1  says  at  once  that  these 
immigrants  are  improved.  We  may  grant  that,  al- 

1  /.  e.,  a,  person  believing  in  the  preponderance  of  environment  rather 

than  heredity 


258    THE   RISING   TIDE   OF   COLOR 

though  the  improvement  is  probably  much  exag- 
gerated. You  cannot  make  bad  stock  into  good  by 
changing  its  meridian,  any  more  than  you  can  turn  a 
cart-horse  into  a  hunter  by  putting  it  into  a  fine  stable, 
or  make  a  mongrel  into  a  fine  dog  by  teaching  it  tricks. 
But  such  improvement  as  there  is  involves  time,  ex- 
pense, and  trouble;  and,  when  it  is  done,  has  any- 
thing been  gained?  Will  any  one  say  that  the  races 
that  have  supplanted  the  old  Nordic  stock  in  New 
England  are  any  better,  or  as  good,  as  the  descendants 
of  that  stock  would  have  been  ,if  their  birth-rate  had 
not  been  lowered  ? 

"  Further,  in  addition  to  the  purely  biological  aspects 
of  the  matter,  there  are  certain  psychological  ones. 
Although  a  cosmopolitan  atmosphere  furnishes  a  cer- 
tain freedom  in  which  strong  congenital  talents  can 
develop,  it  is  a  question  whether  as  many  are  not  in- 
jured as  helped  by  this.  Indeed,  there  is  considerable 
evidence  to  show  that  for  the  production  of  great  men, 
a  certain  homogeneity  of  environment  is  necessary. 
The  reason  of  this  is  very  simple.  In  a  homogeneous 
community,  opinions  on  a  large  number  of  matters 
are  fixed.  The  individual  does  not  have  to  attend  to 
such  things,  but  is  free  to  go  ahead  on  some  special 
line  of  his  own,  to  concentrate  to  his  limit  on  his  work, 
even  though  that  work  be  fighting  the  common  opin- 
ions. 

"But  in  a  community  of  many  races,  there  is 
either  cross-breeding  or  there  is  not.  If  there  is,  the 
children  of  such  cross-breeding  are  liable  to  inherit 


THE    INNER    DIKES  259 

two  souls,  two  temperaments,  two  sets  of  opinions, 
with  the  result  in  many  cases  that  they  are  unable  to 
think  or  act  strongly  and  consistently  in  any  direction. 
The  classic  examples  are  Cuba,  Mexico,  and  Brazil. 
On  the  other  hand,  if  there  is  no  cross-breeding,  the 
diversity  exists  in  the  original  races,  and  in  a  com- 
munity full  of  diverse  ideals  of  all  kinds  much  of  the 
energy  of  the  higher  type  of  man  is  dissipated  in  two 
ways.  First,  in  the  intellectual  field  there  is  much 
more  doubt  about  everything,  and  he  tends  to  weigh, 
discuss,  and  agitate  many  more  subjects,  in  order  to 
arrive  at  a  conclusion  amid  the  opposing  views.  Sec- 
ond, in  practical  affairs,  much  time  and  strength  have 
to  be  devoted  to  keeping  things  going  along  old  lines, 
which  could  have  been  spent  in  new  research  and  de- 
velopment. In  how  many  of  our  large  cities  to-day 
are  men  of  the  highest  type  spending  their  whole  time 
fighting,  often  in  vain,  to  maintain  standards  of  hon- 
esty, decency,  and  order,  and  in  trying  to  compose  the 
various  ethnic  elements,  who  should  be  free  to  build 
new  structures  upon  the  old ! 

"The  moral  seems  to  be  this:  Eugenics  among  in- 
dividuals is  encouraging  the  propagation  of  the  fit, 
and  limiting  or  preventing  the  multiplication  of  the 
unfit.  World-eugenics  is  doing  precisely  the  same 
thing  as  to  races  considered  as  wholes.  Immigration 
restriction  is  a  species  of  segregation  on  a  large  scale, 
by  which  inferior  stocks  can  be  prevented  from  both 
diluting  and  supplanting  good  stocks.  Just  as  we 
isolate  bacterial  invasions,  and  starve  out  the  bacteria 


260    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

by  limiting  the  area  and  amount  of  their  food-supply, 
so  we  can  compel  an  inferior  race  to  remain  in  its  na- 
tive habitat,  where  its  own  multiplication  in  a  limited 
area  will,  as  with  all  organisms,  eventually  limit  its 
numbers  and  therefore  its  influence.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  superior  races,  more  self-limiting  than  the 
others,  with  the  benefits  of  more  space  and  nourish- 
ment will  tend  to  still  higher  levels. 

"This  result  is  not  merely  a  selfish  benefit  to  the 
higher  races,  but  a  good  to  the  world  as  a  whole.  The 
object  is  to  produce  the  greatest  number  of  those  fittest 
not  'for  survival'  merely,  but  fittest  for  all  purposes. 
The  lower  types  among  men  progress,  so  far  as  their 
racial  inheritance  allows  them  to,  chiefly  by  imitation 
and  emulation.  The  presence  of  the  highest  develop- 
ment and  the  highest  institutions  among  any  race  is 
a  distinct  benefit  to  all  the  others.  It  is  a  gift  of  psy- 
chological environment  to  any  one  capable  of  apprecia- 
tion." 1 

The  impossibility  of  any  advanced  and  prosperous 
community  maintaining  its  social  standards  and  hand- 
ing them  down  to  its  posterity  in  these  days  of  cheap 
and  rapid  transportation  except  by  restrictions  upon 
immigrations  is  thus  explained  by  Professor  Ross: 
"  Now  that  cheap  travel  stirs  the  social  deeps  and  far- 
beckoning  opportunity  fills  the  steerage,  immigration 
becomes  ever  more  serious  to  the  people  that  hopes 
to  rid  itself  at  least  of  slums,  'masses/  and  'sub- 

lPrescott  F.  Hall,  "Immigration  Restriction  and  World  Eugenics," 
The  Journol  p/  Heredity,  March,  1919. 


THE    INNER   DIKES  -.'ill 

merged/  \Vhat  is  the  good  of  practising  prudence 
in  the  family  if  hungry  strangers  may  crowd  in  and 
occupy  at  the  banquet  table  of  life  the  places  reserved 
for  its  children?  Shall  it,  in  order  to  relieve  the  teem- 
ing lands  of  their  unemployed,  abide  in  the  pit  of  wolfish 
competition  and  renounce  the  fair  prospect  of  growth 
in  suavity,  comfort,  and  refinement  ?  If  not,  then  the 
low-pressure  society  must  not  only  slam  its  doors  upon 
the  indraft,  but  must  double-lock  them  with  forts 
and  iron-clads,  lest  they  be  burst  open  by  assault  from 
some  quarter  where  'cannon  food'  is  cheap."  * 

These  admirable  summaries  of  the  immigration 
problem  in  its  world-aspect  are  strikingly  illustrated 
by  our  own  country,  which  may  be  considered  as  the 
leading,  if  not  the  "horrible,"  example.  Probably  few 
persons  fully  appreciate  what  magnificent  racial  trea- 
sures America  possessed  at  the  beginning  of  the  nine- 
teenth century.  The  colonial  stock  was  perhaps  the 
finest  that  nature  had  evolved  since  the  classic  Greeks. 
It  was  the  very  pick  of  the  Nordics  of  the  British  Isles 
and  adjacent  regions  of  the  European  continent- 
picked  at  a  time  when  those  countries  were  more  Nor- 
dic than  now,  since  the  industrial  revolution  had  not 
yet  begun  and  the  consequent  resurgence  of  the  Medi- 
terranean and  Alpine  elements  had  not  taken  place. 

The  immigrants  of  colonial  times  were  largely  exiles 
for  conscience's  sake,  while  the  very  process  of  migra- 
was  so  difficult  and  hazardous  that  only  persons 

Edward  Akworth  Ross,  "Changing  America,"  PD.  46-46  'New 
c,  1912). 


262    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

of  courage,  initiative,  and  strong  will-power  would 
voluntarily  face  the  long  voyage  overseas  to  a  life  of 
struggle  in  an  untamed  wilderness  haunted  by  ferocious 
savages. 

Thus  the  entire  process  of  colonial  settlement  was 
one  continuous,  drastic  cycle  of  eugenic  selection.  Only 
the  racially  fit  ordinarily  came,  while  the  few  unfit 
who  did  come  were  mostly  weeded  out  by  the  exacting 
requirements  of  early  American  life. 

The  eugenic  results  were  magnificent.  As  Madison 
Grant  well  says:  " Nature  had  vouchsafed  to  the  Amer- 
icans of  a  century  ago  the  greatest  opportunity  in  re- 
corded history  to  produce  in  the  isolation  of  a  continent 
a  powerful  and  racially  homogeneous  people,  and  had 
provided  for  the  experiment  a  pure  race  of  one  of  the 
most  gifted  and  vigorous  stocks  on  earth,  a  stock  free 
from  the  diseases,  physical  and  moral,  which  have 
again  and  again  sapped  the  vigor  of  the  older  lands. 
Our  grandfathers  threw  away  this  opportunity  in  the 
blissful  ignorance  of  national  childhood  and  inexperi- 
ence." l  The  number  of  great  names  which  America 
produced  at  the  beginning  of  its  national  life  shows 
the  high  level  of  ability  possessed  by  this  relatively 
small  people  (only  about  3,000,000  whites  in  1790). 
With  our  hundred-odd  millions  we  have  no  such  out- 
put of  genius  to-day. 

The  opening  decades  of  the  nineteenth  century 
seemed  to  portend  for  America  the  most  glorious  of 
futures.  For  nearly  seventy  years  after  the  Revolu- 

1  Madison  Grant,  "The  Passing  of  the  Great  Race,"  p.  90. 


1 


THE    INNER    DIKES  263 

tion,  immigration  was  small,  and  during  that  long 
period  of  ethnic  isolation  the  colonial  stock,  unper- 
turbed by  alien  influences,  adjusted  its  cultural  differ- 
ences and  began  to  display  the  traits  of  a  genuine  new 
type,  harmonious  in  basic  homogeneity  and  incalcu- 
lably rich  in  racial  promise.  The  general  level  of  ability 
continued  high  and  the  output  of  talent  remained  ex- 
traordinarily large.  Perhaps  the  best  feature  of  the 
nascent  " native  American"  race  was  its  strong  ideal- 
ism. Despite  the  materialistic  blight  which  was  then 
creeping  over  the  white  world,  the  native  American 
displayed  characteristics  more  reminiscent  of  his  Eliza- 
bethan forebears  than  of  the  materialistic  Hanoverian 
Englishman.  It  was  a  wonderful  time — and  it  was 
only  the  dawn ! 

But  the  full  day  of  that  wondrous  dawning  never 
came.  In  the  late  forties  of  the  nineteenth  century 
the  first  waves  of  the  modern  immigrant  tide  began 
breaking  on  our  shores,  and  the  tide  swelled  to  a  veri- 
table deluge  which  never  slackened  till  temporarily 
restrained  by  the  late  war.  This  immigration,  to  be 
sure,  first  came  mainly  from  northern  Europe,  was 
thus  largely  composed  of  kindred  stocks,  and  con- 
tributed many  valuable  elements.  Only  during  the 
last  thirty  years  have  we  been  deluged  by  the  truly 
alien  hordes  of  the  European  east  and  south.  But, 
even  at  its  best,  the  immigrant  tide  could  not  measure 
up  to  the  colonial  stock  which  it  displaced,  not  rein- 
forced, while  latterly  it  became  a  menace  to  the  very 
existence  of  our  race,  ideals,  and  institutions,  All  our 


264    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

slowly  acquired  balance — physical,  mental,  and  spiri- 
tual— has  been  upset,  and  we  to-day  flounder  in  a 
veritable  Serbonian  bog,  painfully  trying  to  regain  the 
solid  ground  on  which  our  grandsires  confidently  stood. 

The  dangerous  fallacy  in  that  short-sighted  idealism 
which  seeks  to  make  America  the  haven  of  refuge  for 
the  poor  and  oppressed  of  all  lands,  and  its  evil  effects 
not  only  on  America  but  on  the  rest  of  the  world  as 
well,  has  been  convincingly  exposed  by  Professor  Ross. 
He  has  scant  patience  with  those  social  "uplifters" 
whose  sympathy  with  the  visible  alien  at  the  gate  is 
so  keen  that  they  have  no  feeling  for  the  invisibk  chil- 
dren of  our  poor  who  will  find  the  chances  gone,  nor 
for  those  at  the  gate  of  the  to-be,  who  might  have  been 
born,  but  wfll  not  be. 

"I  am  not  of  those,"  he  writes,  "who  consider  hu- 
manity and  forget  the  nation,  who  pity  the  living  but 
not  the  unborn.  To  me,  those  who  are  to  come  after 
us  stretch  forth  beseeching  hands  as  wefl  as  do  the 
masses  on  the  other  side  of  the  globe.  Nor  do  I  re- 
gard America  as  something  to  be  spent  quickly  and 
cheerfully  for  the  benefit  of  pent-up  millions  in  the 
backward  lands.  What  if  we  become  crowded  with- 
out their  ceasing  to  be  so?  I  regard  it  (America)  as  a 
nation  whose  future  may  be  of  unspeakable  value  to 
the  rest  of  mankind,  provided  that  the  easier  condi- 
tions of  life  here  be  made  permanent  by  high  standards 
of  living,  institutions,  and  ideals,  which  finally  may  be 
appropriated  by  all  men.  We  could  have  helped  the 
Chinese  a  little  by  letting  their  surplus  millions  swarm 


THE    INNER    DIKES  265 

in  upon  us  a  generation  ago;  but  we  have  helped  them 
infinitely  more  by  protecting  our  standards  and  having 
something  worth  their  copying  when  the  time  came."  l 

The  perturbing  influence  of  recent  immigration 
must  vex  American  life  for  many  decades.  Even  if 
laws  are  passed  to-morrow  so  drastic  as  to  shut  out 
permanently  the  influx  of  undesirable  elements,  it 
will  yet  take  several  generations  before  the  combined 
action  of  assimilation  and  elimination  shall  have  re- 
stabilized  our  population  and  evolved  a  new  type- 
norm  approaching  in  fixity  that  which  was  on  the  point 
of  crystallizing  three-quarters  of  a  century  ago. 

The  biologist  Humphrey  thus  punctures  the  "melt- 
ing-pot" delusion:  "Our  'melting-pot/"  he  writes, 
"would  not  give  us  in  a  thousand  years  what  enthu- 
siasts expect  of  it— a  fusing  of  all  our  various  racial 
elements  into  a  new  type  which  shall  be  the  true 
American.  It  will  give  us  for  many  generations  a  per- 
plexing diversity  in  ancestry,  and  since  our  successors 
must  reach  back  into  their  ancestry  for  characteristics, 
this  diversity  will  increase  the  uncertainty  of  their 
inheritances.  They  will  inherit  no  stable  blended  char- 
acter, because  there  is  no  such  thing.  They  will  in- 
herit from  a  mixture  of  unlike  characteristics  contrib- 
uted by  unlike  peoples,  and  in  their  inheritance  they 
will  have  certain  of  these  characteristics  in  full  identity, 
while  certain  others  they  will  not  have  at  all." a 

1  Edward  Alsworth  Roes,  "The  Old  World  in  the  New,"  Preface,  p.  2 
(New  York,  1914). 

*S.  K.  Humphrey,  "  Mankind:  Racial  Values  arid  the  Racial  Pro*. 
pect,"  p.  155. 


266    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Thus,  under  even  the  most  favorable  circumstances, 
we  are  in  for  generations  of  racial  readjustment — an 
immense  travail,  essentially  needless,  since  the  final 
product  will  probably  not  measure  up  to  the  colonial 
standard.  We  will  probably  never  (unless  we  adopt 
positive  eugenic  measures)  be  the  race  we  might  have 
been  if  America  had  been  reserved  for  the  descendants 
of  the  picked  Nordics  of  colonial  times. 

But  that  is  no  reason  for  folding  our  hands  in  despair- 
ing inaction.  On  the  contrary,  we  should  be  up  and 
doing,  for  though  some  of  our  race-heritage  has  been 
lost,  more  yet  remains.  We  can  still  be  a  very  great 
people — if  we  will  it  so.  Heaven  be  praised,  the  co- 
lonial stock  was  immensely  prolific  before  the  alien 
tide  wrought  its  sterilizing  havoc.  Even  to-day  nearly 
one-half  of  our  population  is  of  the  old  blood,  while 
many  millions  of  the  immigrant  stock  are  sound  in 
quality  and  assimilable  in  kind.  Only — the  immi- 
grant tide  must  at  all  costs  be  stopped  and  America 
given  a  chance  to  stabilize  her  ethnic  being.  It  is  the 
old  story  of  the  sibylline  books.  Some,  to  be  sure, 
are  ashes  of  the  dead  past;  all  the  more  should  we 
conserve  the  precious  volumes  which  remain. 

One  fact  should  be  clearly  understood:  If  America 
is  not  true  to  her  own  race-soul,  she  will  inevitably  lose 
it,  and  the  brightest  star  that  has  appeared  since  Hellas 
will  fall  like  a  meteor  from  the  human  sky,  its  brilliant 
radiance  fading  into  the  night.  "  We  Americans,"  says 
Madison  Grant,  "must  realize  that  the  altruistic  ideals 
which  have  controlled  our  social  development  during 


THE    INNER    DIKES 

the  past  century  and  the  maudlin  sentinientalism  that 
has  made  America  'an  asylum  for  the  oppressed/  are 
sweeping  the  nation  toward  a  racial  abyss.  If  the  melt- 
ing-pot is  allowed  to  boil  without  control  and  we  con- 
tinue to  follow  our  national  motto  and  deliberately 
blind  ourselves  to  'all  distinctions  of  race,  creed,  or 
color/  the  type  of  native  American  of  colonial  descent 
will  become  as  extinct  as  the  Athenian  of  the  age  of 
Pericles  and  the  Viking  of  the  days  of  Hollo." 1 

And  let  us  not  lay  any  sacrificial  unction  to  our  souls. 
If  we  cheat  our  country  and  the  world  of  the  splendid 
promise  of  American  life,  we  shall  have  no  one  to  blame 
but  ourselves,  and  we  shall  deserve,  not  pity,  but  con- 
tempt. As  Professor  Ross  well  puts  it:  "A  people 
that  has  no  more  respect  for  its  ancestors  and  no  more 
pride  of  race  than  this  deserves  the  extinction  that 
surely  awaits  it."2 

This  extended  discussion  of  the  evil  effects  of  even 
white  immigration  has,  in  my  opinion,  been  necessary 
in  order  to  get  a  proper  perspective  for  viewing  the 
problem  of  colored  immigration.  For  it  is  perfectly 
obvious  that  if  the  influx  of  inferior  kindred  stocks 
is  bad,  the  influx  of  wholly  alien  stocks  is  infinitely 
worse.  When  we  see  the  damage  wrought  in  America, 
for  example,  by  the  coming  of  persons  who,  after  all, 
belong  mostly  to  branches  of  the  white  race  and  who 
nearly  all  possess  the  basic  ideals  of  white  civilization, 
we  can  grasp  the  incalculably  greater  damage  which 
would  be  wrought  by  the  coming  of  persons  wholly 

1  Grant,  p.  263.          2  Ross,  "The  Old  World  in  the  New,"  p.  304. 


268    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

alien  in  blood  and  possessed  of  idealistic  and  cultural 
backgrounds  absolutely  different  from  ours.  If  the 
white  immigrant  can  gravely  disorder  the  national  life, 
it  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  colored  immigrant 
would  doom  it  to  certain  death. 

This  doom  would  be  all  the  more  certain  because  of 
the  enormous  potential  volume  of  colored  immigra- 
tion. Beside  it,  the  white  immigrant  tide  of  the  past 
century  would  pale  into  insignificance.  Leaving  all 
other  parts  of  the  colored  world  out  of  the  present 
discussion,  three  Asiatic  countries — China,  Japan,  and 
India — together  have  a  population  of  nearly  800,- 
000,000.  That  is  practically  twice  the  population  of 
Europe — the  source  of  white  immigration.  And  the 
vast  majority  of  these  800,000,000  Asiatics  are  poten-  . 
tial  immigrants  into  white  territories.  Their  standards 
of  living  are  so  inconceivably  low,  their  congestion  is 
so  painful,  and  their  consequent  desire  for  relief  so 
keen  that  the  high-standard,  relatively  empty  white 
world  seems  to  them  a  perfect  paradise.  Only  the 
barrier  of  the  white  man's  veto  has  prevented  a  per- 
fect deluge  of  colored  men  into  white  lands,  and  even 
as  it  is  the  desperate  seekers  after  fuller  life  have  crept 
and  crawled  through  every  crevice  in  that  barrier, 
until  even  these  advance-guards  to-day  constitute 
serious  local  problems  along  the  white  world's  race- 
frontiers. 

The  simple  iruth  of  the  matter  is  this:  A  mighty 
problem — a  planet-wide  problem— Confronts  us  to- 
day and  will  increasingly  confront  us  in  the  days  to 


THE    INNER    DIKES 

Says  Putnam  Weale:  "A  struggle  has  begun 
between  the  white  man  and  all  the  other  men  of  the 
world  to  decide  whether  non-white  men — that  is, 
yellow  men,  or  brown  men,  or  black  men— may  or 
may  not  invade  the  white  man's  countries  in  order  there 
to  gain  their  livelihood.  The  standard  of  living  being 
low  in  the  lands  of  colored  men  and  high  in  the  lands 
of  the  white  man,  it  has  naturally  followed  that  it  has 
been  in  the  highest  degree  attractive  for  men  of  color 
during  the  past  few  decades  to  proceed  to  regions  where 
their  labor  is  rewarded  on  a  scale  far  above  their  actual 
requirements — that  is,  on  the  white  man's  scale.  This 
simple  economic  truth  creates  the  inevitable  contest 
which  has  for  years  filled  all  the  countries  bordering 
on  the  Pacific  with  great  dread;  and  which,  in  spite  of 
the  temporary  truce  which  the  so-called  ( Exclusion 
Policy'  has  now  enforced,  will  go  much  farther  than 
it  has  yet  gone." 1 

The  world-wide  significance  of  colored  immigration 
and  the  momentous  conflicts  which  it  will  probably 
provoke  are  ably  visualized  by  Professor  Ross. 

"The  rush  of  developments,"  he  writes,  "makes  it 
certain  that  the  vision  of  a  globe  'lapped  in  universal 
law'  is  premature.  If  the  seers  of  the  mid-century 
who  looked  for  the  speedy  triumph  of  free  trade  had 
read  their  Malthus  aright,  they  might  have  antici- 
pated the  tariff  barriers  that  have  arisen  on  all  hands 
within  the  last  thirty  years.  So,  to-day  one  needs  no 
prophet's  mantle  to  foresee  that  presently  the  world 

1  Putnam  Weale,  "The  Conflict  of  Color,"  pp.  98-99. 


270    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

will  be  cut  up  with  immigration  barriers  which  will 
never  be  levelled  until  the  intelligent  accommodation 
of  numbers  to  resources  has  greatly  equalized  popula- 
tion-pressure all  over  the  globe.  .  .  .  Dams  against  the 
color  races,  with  spillways  of  course  for  students,  mer- 
chants, and  travellers,  will  presently  enclose  the  white 
man's  world.  Within  this  area  minor  dams  will  pro- 
tect the  high  wages  of  the  less  prolific  peoples  against 
the  surplus  labor  of  the  more  prolific. 

"Assuredly,  every  small-family  nation  will  try  to 
raise  such  a  dam,  and  every  big-family  nation  will 
try  to  break  it  down.  The  outlook  for  peace  and  dis- 
armament is,  therefore,  far  from  bright.  One  needs 
but  compare  the  population-pressures  in  France,  Ger- 
many, Russia,  and  Japan  to  realize  that,  even  to-day, 
the  real  enemy  of  the  dove  of  peace  is  not  the  eagle  of 
pride  or  the  vulture  of  greed,  but  the  stork ! 

"The  great  point  of  doubt  in  birth  restriction  is  the 
ability  of  the  Western  nations  to  retain  control  of  the 
vast  African,  Australasian,  and  South  American  areas 
they  have  staked  out  as  preserves  to  be  peopled  at 
their  leisure  with  the  diminishing  overflow  of  their 
population.  If  underbreeding  should  leave  them  with- 
out the  military  strength  that  alone  can  defend  their 
far-flung  frontiers  in  the  southern  hemisphere,  those 
huge  underdeveloped  regions  will  assuredly  be  filled 
with  the  children  of  the  brown  and  the  yellow  races." 1 

Thus,  white  men,  of  whatever  country  and  however 
far  removed  from  personal  contact  with  colored  com- 

1  Ross,  "Changing  America,"  pp.  46-48. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  271 

petitors,  must  realize  that  the  question  of  colored 
immigration  vitally  concerns  every  white  man,  woman, 
and  child;  because  nowhere — absolutely  nowhere — can 
white  labor  compete  on  equal  terms  with  colored  im- 
migrant labor.  The  grim  truth  is  that  there  are  enough 
hard-working  colored  men  to  swamp  the  whole  white 
world. 

No  palliatives  will  serve  to  mitigate  the  ultimate 
issue,  for  if  the  white  race  should  to-day  surrender 
enough  of  its  frontiers  to  ease  the  existing  colored  pop- 
ulation-pressure, so  quickly  would  these  surrendered 
regions  be  swamped,  and  so  rapidly  would  the  fast- 
breeding  colored  races  fill  the  homeland  gaps,  that  in 
a  very  short  time  the  diminished  white  world  would  be 
faced  with  an  even  louder  colored  clamor  for  admit- 
tance— backed  by  an  increased  power  to  enforce  the 
colored  will. 

The  profoundly  destructive  effects  of  colored  com- 
petition upon  white  standards  of  labor  and  living  has 
long  been  admitted  by  all  candid  students  of  the  prob- 
lem. So  warm  a  champion  of  Asiatics  as  Mr.  Hynd- 
man  acknowledges  that  "the  white  workers  cannot 
hold  their  own  permanently  against  Chinese  com- 
petition in  the  labor  market.  The  lower  standard  of. 
life,  the  greater  persistence,  the  superior  education  of 
the  Chinese  will  beat  them,  and  will  continue  to  beat 
them/'1 

Wherever  the  white  man  has  been  exposed  to  col- 
ored competition,  particularly  Asiatic  competition,  the 

1  Hyndman,  "The  Awakening  of  Asia,"  p.  180. 


272    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

story  is  the  same.  Says  the  Australian  Professor  Pear- 
son: "No  one  in  California  or  Australia,  where  the 
effects  of  Chinese  competition  have  been  studied,  has, 
I  believe,  the  smallest  doubt  that  Chinese  laborers, 
if  allowed  to  come  in  freely,  could  starve  all  the  white 
men  in  either  country  out  of  it,  or  force  them  to  sub- 
mit to  harder  work  and  a  much  lower  standard  of 
wages." l 

And  a  South  African,  writing  of  the  effects  of  Hindu 
immigration  into  Natal,  remarks  in  similar  vein: 
"The  condition  of  South  Africa — especially  of  Natal 
— is  a  warning  to  other  lands  to  bar  Asiatic  immi- 
grants. .  .  .  Both  economically  and  socially  the  pres- 
ence of  a  large  Oriental  population  is  bad.  The  Asiatics 
either  force  out  the  white  workers,  or  compel  the  latter 
to  live  down  to  the  Asiatic  level.  There  must  be  a 
marked  deterioration  amongst  the  white  working 
classes,  which  renders  useless  a  great  deal  of  the  effort 
made  in  educational  work.  The  white  population  is 
educated  and  trained  according  to  the  best  ideas  of 
the  highest  form  of  Western  civilization — and  has  to 
compete  for  a  livelihood  against  Asiatics!  In  South 
Africa  this  competition  is  driving  out  the  white  work- 
ing class,  because  the  average  European  cannot  live 
down  to  the  Asiatic  level — and  if  it  is  essential  that 
the  European  must  do  so,  for  the  sake  of  his  own  hap- 
pineis,  do  not  educate  him  up  to  better  things.  If 
cheapness  is  the  only  consideration,  if  low  wages  are 
to  eome  before  everything  else,  then  it  is  not  only  waste 

'Pearson,  p.  132. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  273 

of  money,  but  absolute  cruelty,  to  inspire  in  the  white 
working  classes  tastes  and  aspirations  which  it  is  im- 
possible for  them  to  realize.  To  meet  Asiatic  com- 
petition squarely,  it  would  be  necessary  to  train  the 
white  children  to  be  Asiatics.  Even  the  pro-Orientals 
would  hardly  advocate  this."1 

The  lines  just  quoted  squarely  counter  the  "sur- 
vival of  the  fittest "  plea  so  often  made  by  Asiatic  propa- 
gandists for  colored  immigration.  The  argument  runs 
that,  since  the  Oriental  laborer  is  able  to  underbid  the 
white  laborer,  the  Oriental  is  the  "fittest"  and  should 
therefore  be  allowed  to  supplant  the  white  man  in 
the  interests  of  human  progress.  This  is  of  course 
merely  clever  use  of  the  well-known  fallacy  which 
confuses  the  terms  "fittest"  and  "best."  The  idea 
that,  because  a  certain  human  type  "fits"  in  certain 
ways  a  particular  environment  (often  an  unhealthy, 
man-made  social  environment),  it  should  be  allowed 
to  drive  out  another  type  endowed  with  much  richer 
potentialities  for  the  highest  forms  of  human  evolution, 
is  a  sophistry  as  absurd  as  it  is  dangerous. 

Professor  Ross  puts  the  matter  very  aptly  when  he 
remarks  concerning  Chinese  immigration:  "The  com- 
petition of  white  laborer  and  yellow  is  not  so  simple 
a  test  of  human  worth  as  some  may  imagine.  Under 
good  conditions  the  white  man  can  best  the  yellow 
man  in  turning  off  work.  But  under  bad  conditions 

'L.  E.  Neame,  "Oriental  Labor  in  South  Africa,"  Annals  of  the 
American  Academy  of  Political  and  Social  Science,  vol.  XXXTV,  pp. 
179-180,  September,  1909. 


274    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

the  yellow  man  can  best  the  white  man,  because  he 
can  better  endure  spoiled  food,  poor  clothing,  foul 
air,  noise,  heat,  dirt,  discomfort,  and  microbes.  Reilly 
can  outdo  Ah-San,  but  Ah-San  can  underlive  Reilly. 
Ah-San  cannot  take  away  Reilly 7s  job  as  being  a  better 
workman;  but  because  he  can  live  and  do  some  work 
at  a  wage  on  which  Reilly  cannot  keep  himself  fit  to 
work  at  all,  three  or  four  Ah-Sans  can  take  Reilly's 
job  from  him.  And  they  will  do  it,  too,  unless  they 
are  barred  out  of  the  market  where  Reilly  is  selling 
his  labor.  ReiUy's  endeavor  to  exclude  Ah-San  from 
his  labor  market  is  not  the  case  of  a  man  dreading  to 
pit  himself  on  equal  terms  against  a  better  man.  In- 
deed, it  is  not  quite  so  simple  and  selfish  and  narrow- 
minded  as  all  that.  It  is  a  case  of  a  man  fitted  to  get 
the  most  out  of  good  conditions  refusing  to  yield  his 
place  to  a  weaker  man  able  to  withstand  bad  condi- 
tions."1 

All  this  is  no  disparagement  of  the  Asiatic.  He  is 
perfectly  justified  in  trying  to  win  broader  opportuni- 
ties in  white  lands.  But  we  whites  are  equally  justi- 
fied in  keeping  these  opportunities  for  ourselves  and 
our  children.  The  hard  facts  are  that  there  is  not 
enough  for  both;  that  when  the  enormous  outward 
thrust  of  colored  population-pressure  bursts  into  a 
white  land  it  cannot  let  live,  but  automatically  crushes 
the  white  man  out — first  the  white  laborer,  then  the 
white  merchant,  lastly  the  white  aristocrat;  until  every 
vestige  of  white  has  gone  from  that  land  forever. 

1  Ross,  "The  Changing  Chinese,"  pp.  47-48. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  275 

This  inexorable  process  is  thus  described  by  an  Aus- 
tralian: "The  colored  races  become  agencies  of  eco- 
nomic disturbance  and  social  degradation.  They  sap 
and  destroy  the  upward  tendencies  of  the  poorer  whites. 
The  latter,  instead  of  always  having  something  better 
to  look  at  and  strive  after,  have  a  lower  standard  of 
living,  health,  and  cleanliness  set  before  them,  and  the 
results  are  disastrous.  They  sink  to  the  lower  level 
of  the  Asiatics,  and  the  degrading  tendency  proceeds 
upward  by  saturation,  affecting  several  grades  of  soci- 
ety. .  .  .  There  is  an  insidious,  yet  irresistible,  proc- 
ess of  social  degradation.  The  colored  race  does  not 
intentionally,  or  even  consciously,  lower  the  European; 
it  simply  happens  so,  by  virtue  of  a  natural  law  which 
neither  race  can  control.  As  debased  coinage  will  drive 
out  good  currency,  so  a  lowered  standard  of  living  will 
inexorably  spread  until  its  effects  are  universally  felt." 1 

It  all  comes  down  to  a  question  of  self-preservation. 
And,  despite  what  sentimentalists  may  say,  self-pres- 
ervation is  the  first  law  of  nature.  (  To  love  one's  cul- 
tural, idealistic,  and  racial  heritage;  to  swear  to  pass 
that  heritage  unimpaired  to  one's  children;  to  fight, 
and,  if  need  be,  to  die  in  its  defense:  all  this  is  eternally 
right  and  proper,  and  no  amount  of  casuistry  or  senti- 
mentality can  alter  that  unalterable  truth  A  An  Eng- 
lishman put  the  thing  in  a  nutshell  when  he  wrote: 
"Asiatic  immigration  is  not  a  question  of  sentiment, 
but  of  sheer  existence.  The  whole  problem  is  summed 

1 J.  Liddell  Kelly,  "What  Is  the  Matter  with  the  Asiatic?"  Wut- 
minster  Review,  September,  1910. 


276    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

up  in  Lafcadio  Hearn's  pregnant  phrase:  'The  East 
can  underlive  the  West.'  "* 

Rigorous  exclusion  of  colored  immigrants  is  thus 
vitally  necessary  for  the  white  peoples.  Unfortunately, 
this  exclusion  policy  will  not  be  easily  maintained. 
Colored  population-pressure  is  insistent  and  increasing, 
while  the  matter  is  still  further  complicated  by  the 
fact  that,  while  no  white  community  can  gain  by  colored 
immigration,  white  individuals — employers  of  labor — 
may  be  great  gainers  and  hence  often  tend  to  put  private 
interest  above  racial  duty.  Barring  a  handful  of  sin- 
cere but  misguided  cosmopolitan  enthusiasts,  it  is 
unscrupulous  business  interests  which  are  behind  every 
white  proposal  to  relax  the  exclusion  laws  protecting 
white  areas. 

In  fairness  to  these  business  interests,  however,  let 
us  realize  their  great  temptations.  To  the  average 
employer,  especially  in  the  newer  areas  of  white  settle- 
ment where  white  labor  is  scarce  and  dictatorial,  what 
could  be  more  enticing  than  the  vision  of  a  boundless 
supply  of  cheap  and  eager  colored  labor? 

Consider  this  Californian  appraisement  of  the  Chi- 
nese coolie:  "The  Chinese  coolie  is  the  ideal  industrial 
machine,  the  perfect  human  ox.  He  will  transform  less 
food  into  more  work,  with  less  administrative  friction, 
than  any  other  creature.  Even  now,  when  the  scarcity 
of  Chinese  labor  and  the  consequent  rise  in  wages 
have  eliminated  the  question  of  cheapness,  the  Chinese 

1From  an  article  in  The  Pall-Mali  Gazette  (London).  Quoted  in 
The  Literary  Digest,  May  31,  1913,  pp.  1215-16. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  277 

have  still  the  advantage  over  all  other  servile  labor 
in  convenience  and  efficiency.  They  are  patient,  docile, 
industrious,  and  above  all  'honest'  in  the  business 
sense  that  they  keep  their  contracts.  Also,  they  cost 
nothing  but  money.  Any  other  sort  of  labor  costs 
human  effort  and  worry,  in  addition  to  the  money. 
But  Chinese  labor  can  be  bought  like  any  other  com- 
modity, at  so  much  a  dozen  or  a  hundred.  The  Chinese 
contractor  delivers  the  agreed  number  of  men,  at  the 
agreed  time  and  place,  for  the  agreed  price,  and  if  any 
one  should  drop  out  he  finds  another  in  his  place.  The 
men  board  and  lodge  themselves,  and  when  the  work 
is  done  they  disappear  from  the  employer's  ken  until 
again  needed.  The  entire  transaction  consists  in  pay- 
ing the  Chinese  contractor  an  agreed  number  of  dollars 
for  an  agreed  result.  This  elimination  of  the  human 
element  reduces  the  labor  problem  to  something  the 
employer  can  understand.  The  Chinese  labor-ma- 
chine, from  his  standpoint,  is  perfect." 1 

What  is  true  of  the  Chinese  is  true  to  a  somewhat 
lesser  extent  of  all  "coolie"  labor.  Hence,  once  in- 
troduced into  a  white  country,  it  becomes  immensely 
popular — among  employers.  How  it  was  working  out 
in  South  Africa,  before  the  exclusion  acts  there,  is  clearly 
explained  in  the  following  lines:  "The  experience  of 
South  Africa  is  that  when  once  Asiatic  labor  is  admitted, 
the  tendency  is  for  it  to  grow.  One  manufacturer 
secures  it  and  is  able  to  cut  prices  to  such  an  extent 

Chester  H.  Rowell,  "Chinese  and  Japanese  Immigrants,"  Annals 
of  the  American  Academy,  vol.  XXXIV,  p.  4,  September,  1909. 


278    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

that  the  other  manufacturers  are  forced  either  to  em- 
ploy Asiatics  also  or  to  reduce  white  wages  to  the  Asiatic 
level.  Oriental  labor  is  something  which  does  not 
stand  still.  The  taste  for  it  grows.  A  party  springs 
up  financially  interested  in  increasing  it.  In  Natal 
to-day  the  suggestion  that  Indian  labor  should  no 
longer  be  imported  is  met  by  an  outcry  from  the  plant- 
ers, the  farmers,  and  landowners,  and  a  certain  num- 
ber of  manufacturers,  that  industries  and  agriculture 
will  be  ruined.  So  the  coolie  ships  continue  to  arrive 
at  Durban,  and  Natal  becomes  more  and  more  a  land 
of  black  and  brown  people  and  less  a  land  of  white 
people.  Instead  of  becoming  a  Canada  or  New  Zea- 
land, it  is  becoming  a  Trinidad  or  Cuba.  Instead  of 
white  settlers,  there  are  brown  settlers.  .  .  .  The 
working-class  white  population  has  to  go,  as  it  is  going 
hi  Natal.  The  country  becomes  a  country  of  white 
landlords  and  supervisors  controlling  a  horde  of  Asiatics. 
It  does  not  produce  a  nation  or  a  free  people.  It  be- 
comes what  in  the  old  days  of  English  colonization  was 
called  a  'plantation.'"1 

All  this  gives  a  clearer  idea  of  the  difficulties  involved 
in  a  successful  guarding  of  the  gates.  But  it  also  con- 
firms the  conviction  that  the  gates  must  be  strictly 
guarded.  If  anything  further  were  needed  to  rein- 
force that  conviction  it  should  be  the  present  state 
of  those  white  outposts  where  the  gates  have  been  left 
ajar. 

1  Neaiue,  "Oriental  Labor  in  South  Africa,"  Annals  of  the  American 
Academy,  vol.  XXXIV,  p.  181. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  279 

Hawaii  is  a  good  example.  This  mid-Pacific  archi- 
pelago was  brought  under  white  control  by  masterful 
American  Nordics,  who  established  Anglo-Saxon  in- 
stitutions and  taught  the  natives  the  rudiments  of 
Anglo-Saxon  civilization.  The  native  Hawaiians,  like 
the  other  Polynesian  races,  could  not  stand  the  pres- 
sure of  white  civilization,  and  withered  away.  But 
the  white  oligarchy  which  controlled  the  islands  de- 
termined to  turn  their  marvellous  fertility  to  imme- 
diate profit.  Labor  was  imported  from  the  ends  of 
the  earth,  the  sole  test  being  working  ability  without 
regard  to  race  or  color.  There  followed  a  great  in- 
flux of  Asiatic  labor— at  first  Chinese  until  annexation 
to  the  United  States  brought  Hawaii  under  our  Chinese 
exclusion  laws;  later  on  Filipinos,  Koreans,  and,  above 
all,  Japanese. 

The  results  are  highly  instructive.  These  Asiatics 
arrived  as  agricultural  laborers  to  work  on  the  plan- 
tations. But  they  did  not  stay  there.  Saving  their 
wages,  they  pushed  vigorously  into  all  the  middle  walks 
of  life.  The  Hawaiian  fisherman  and  the  American 
artisan  or  shopkeeper  were  alike  ousted  by  ruthless 
undercutting.  To-day  the  American  mechanic,  the 
American  storekeeper,  the  American  farmer,  even  the 
American  contractor,  is  a  rare  bird  indeed,  while  Japa- 
nese corporations  are  buying  up  the  finest  plantations 
and  growing  the  finest  pineapples  and  sugar.  Fully 
half  the  population  of  the  islands  is  Japanese,  while 
the  Americans  are  being  literally  encysted  as  a  small 
and  dwindling  aristocracy.  In  1917  the  births  of  the 


280    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

two  races  were:  American,  295;  Japanese,  5,000! 
Comment  is  superfluous. 

Clear  round  the  globe,  the  island  of  Mauritius,  the 
half-way  house  between  Asia  and  Africa,  tells  the  same 
tale.  Originally  settled  by  Europeans,  mostly  French, 
Mauritius  imported  negroes  from  Africa  to  work  its 
rich  soil.  This  at  once  made  impossible  the  existence 
of  a  white  laboring  class,  though  the  upper,  middle, 
and  artisan  classes  remained  unaffected  by  the  eco- 
nomically backward  blacks.  A  hundred  years  ago  one- 
third  of  the  population  were  whites.  But  after  the 
abolition  of  slavery  the  negroes  quit  work,  and  Asi- 
atics were  imported  to  take  their  place.  The  upshot 
was  that  the  whites  were  presently  swamped  beneath 
the  Asiatic  tide — here  mostly  Hindus.  To-day  the 
Hindus  alone  form  more  than  two-thirds  of  the  whole 
population,  the  whites  numbering  less  than  one-tenth. 
Indeed,  the  very  outward  aspect  of  the  island  is  chang- 
ing. The  old  French  landmarks  are  going,  and  the 
fabled  land  of  "Paul  and  Virginia"  is  becoming  a  bit 
of  Hindustan,  with  a  Chinese  fringe.  Even  Port 
Louis,  the  capital  town,  has  mostly  passed  from  white 
to  Indian  or  Chinese  hands. 

Now  what  do  these  two  world-sundered  cases  mean  ? 
They  mean,  as  an  English  writer  justly  remarks, 
"that  under  the  British  flag  Mauritius  has  become  an 
outpost  of  Asia,  just  as  Hawaii  is  another  such  and 
under  the  Stars  and  Stripes." 1  And,  of  course,  there  is 
Natal,  already  mentioned,  which,  at  the  moment  when 

1  Viator,  "Asia  contra  Mundum,"  Fortnightly  Review,  February,  1908. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  281 

the  recent  South  African  Exclusion  Act  stayed  the 
Hindu  tide,  had  not  only  been  partially  transformed 
into  an  Asiatic  land,  but  was  fast  becoming  a  centre 
of  Asiatic  radiation  all  over  South  Africa. 

With  such  grim  warnings  before  their  eyes,  it  is  not 
strange  that  the  lusty  young  Anglo-Saxon  communities 
bordering  the  Pacific— Australia,  New  Zealand,  British 
Columbia,  and  our  own  "coast" — have  one  and  all 
set  their  faces  like  flint  against  the  Oriental  and  have 
emblazoned  across  their  portals  the  legend:  "All 
White."  Nothing  is  more  striking  than  the  instinctive 
and  instantaneous  solidarity  which  binds  together 
Australians  and  Afrikanders,  Californians  and  Cana- 
dians, into  a  "sacred  union"  at  the  mere  whisper  of 
Asiatic  immigration. 

Everywhere  the  slogan  is  the  same.  "The  'White 
Australia7  idea,"  cries  an  antipodean  writer,  "is  not  a 
political  theory.  It  is  a  gospel.  It  counts  for  more 
than  religion;  for  more  than  flag,  because  the  flag 
waves  over  all  kinds  of  aces;  for  more  than  the  em- 
pire, for  the  empire  is  mostly  black,  or  brown  or  yellow; 
is  largely  heathen,  largely  polygamous,  partly  canni- 
bal. In  fact,  the  White  Australia  doctrine  is  based 
on  the  necessity  for  choosing  between  national  existence 
and  national  suicide."1  "White  Australia!"  writes 
another  Australian  in  similar  vein.  "Australians  of 
all  classes  and  political  affiliations  regard  the  policy 
much  as  Americans  regard  the  Constitution.  It  is 

1  Quoted  by  J.  F.  Abbott,  "Japanese  Expansion  and  American  Poli- 
cies," p.  154  (New  York,  1916). 


282    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

their  most  articulate  article  of  faith.  The  reason  is 
not  far  to  seek.  .  .  .  Australian  civilization  is  little 
more  than  a  partial  fringe  round  the  continental  coast- 
line of  12;210  miles.  The  coast  and  its  hinterlands  are 
eettled  and  developed,  although  not  completely  for 
the  entire  circumference;  in  the  centre  of  the  country 
lie  the  apparently  illimitable  wastes  of  the  Never- 
Never  Land,  occupied  entirely  by  scrub,  snakes,  sand, 
and  blackfellows.  The  almost  manless  regions  of  the 
island-continent  are  a  terrible  menace.  It  is  impossible 
to  police  at  all  adequately  such  an  enormous  area. 
And  the  peoples  of  Asia,  beating  at  the  bars  that  con- 
fine them,  rousing  at  last  from  their  age-long  slumber, 
are  chafing  at  the  restraints  imposed  upon  their  free 
entry  into  and  settlement  of  such  uninhabited,  unde- 
veloped lands."1 

So  the  Australians,  5,000,000  whites  in  a  far-off 
continent  as  large  as  the  United  States,  defy  clamoring 
Asia  and  swear  to  keep  Australia  a  white  man's  land. 
Says  Professor  Pearson:  "We  are  guarding  the  last 
part  of  the  world  in  which  the  higher  races  can  increase 
and  live  freely,  for  the  higher  civilization.  We  are 
denying  the  yellow  race  nothing  but  what  it  can  find 
in  the  home  of  its  birth,  or  in  countries  like  the  Indian 
Archipelago,  where  the  white  man  can  never  live  except 
as  an  exotic.'72 

So  Australia  has  raised  drastic  immigration  bar- 

1 H.  C.  Douglas,  "What  May  Happen  in  the  Pacific,"  American  Re- 
view of  Reviews,  April,  1917. 
s  Pearson,  p.  17. 


THE    INNER    DIKES 

riers  conceived  on  the  lines  laid  down  by  Sir  Henry 
Parkes  many  years  ago:  "It  is  our  duty  to  preserve 
the  type  of  the  British  nation,  and  we  ought  not  for 
any  consideration  whatever  to  admit  any  element 
that  would  detract  from,  or  in  any  appreciable  de- 
gree lower,  that  admirable  type  of  nationality.  We 
should  not  encourage  or  admit  amongst  us  any  class 
of  persons  whatever  whom  we  are  not  prepared  to  ad- 
vance to  all  our  franchises,  to  all  our  privileges  as  citi- 
zens, and  all  our  social  rights,  including  the  right  of 
marriage.  I  maintain  that  no  class  of  persons  should 
be  admitted  here  who  cannot  come  amongst  us,  take 
up  all  our  rights,  perform  on  a  ground  of  equality  all 
our  duties,  and  share  in  our  august  and  lofty  work  of 
founding  a  free  nation."1 

From  Canada  rises  an  equally  uncompromising  de- 
termination. Listen  to  Mr.  Vrooman,  a  high  official 
of  British  Columbia :  "  Our  province  is  becoming  Orien- 
talized, and  one  of  our  most  important  questions  is 
whether  it  is  to  remain  a  British  province  or  become  an 
Oriental  colony — for  we  have  three  races  demanding 
seats  in  our  drawing-room,  as  well  as  places  at  our 
board — the  Japanese,  Chinese,  and  East  Indian."1 
And  a  well-known  Canadian  writer,  Miss  Laut,  thus 
defines  the  issue:  "If  the  resident  Hindu  had  a  vote— 
and  as  a  British  subject,  why  not?— and  if  he  could 
break  down  the  immigration  exclusion  act,  he  could 

1  Neame,  op.  tit.,  Annals  of  the  American  Academy,  vol.  XXXIV, 
pp.  181-2. 

2  Quoted  by  Archibald  Kurd,  "The  Racial  War  in  the  Pacific,"  Fort- 

nightly  Review,  June,  1913. 


284    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

outvote  the  native-born  Canadian  in  ten  years.  In 
Canada  are  5,500,000  native-born,  2,000,000  aliens. 
In  India  are  hundreds  of  millions  breaking  the  dikes 
of  their  own  natural  barriers  and  ready  to  flood  any 
open  land.  Take  down  the  barriers  on  the  Pacific 
coast,  and  there  would  be  10,000,000  Hindus  in  Canada 
in  ten  years."  * 

Our  Pacific  coast  takes  precisely  the  same  attitude. 
Says  Chester  H.  Rowell,  a  California  writer:  "There  is 
no  right  way  to  solve  a  race  problem  except  to  stop  it 
before  it  begins.  .  .  .  The  Pacific  coast  is  the  frontier 
of  the  white  man's  world,  the  culmination  of  the  west- 
ward migration  which  is  the  white  man's  whole  his- 
tory. It  will  remain  the  frontier  so  long  as  we  regard 
it  as  such;  no  longer.  Unless  it  is  maintained  there, 
there  is  no  other  line  at  which  it  can  be  maintained 
without  more  effort  than  American  government  and 
American  civilization  are  able  to  sustain.  The  multi- 
tudes of  Asia  are  awake,  after  their  long  sleep,  as  the 
multitudes  of  Europe  were  when  our  present  flood  of 
immigration  began.  We  know  what  could  happen,  on 
the  Asiatic  side,  by  what  did  happen  and  is  happen- 
ing on  the  European  side.  On  that  side  we  have  sur- 
vived. .  .  .  But  against  Asiatic  immigration  we  could 
not  survive.  The  numbers  who  would  come 'would  be 
greater  than  we  could  encyst,  and  the  races  who  would 
come  are  those  which  we  could  never  absorb.  The 
permanence  not  merely  of  American  civilization,  but 
of  the  white  race  on  this  continent,  depends  on  our 

a  Agues  C.  Laut,  "The  Canadian  Commonwealth,"  p.  146    (In- 
dianapolis, 1915). 


THE    INNER    DIKES  285 

not  doing  on  the  Pacific  side  what  we  have  done  on 
the  Atlantic  coast."1 

Says  another  Calif  ornian,  Justice  Burnett:  "The 
Pacific  States  comprise  an  empire  of  vast  potentialities 
and  capable  of  supporting  a  population  of  many  mil- 
lions. Those  now  living  there  propose  that  it  shall 
continue  to  be  a  home  for  them  and  their  children,  and 
that  they  shall  not  be  overwhelmed  and  driven  east- 
ward by  an  ever-increasing  yellow  and  brown  flood."1 

All  "economic"  arguments  are  summarily  put  aside. 
"They  say,"  writes  another  Calif ornian,  "that  our 
fruit-orchards,  mines,  and  seed-farms  cannot  be  worked 
without  them  (Oriental  laborers).  It  were  better  that 
they  never  be  developed  than  that  our  white  laborers 
be  degraded  and  driven  from  the  soil.  The  same  argu- 
ments were  used  a  century  and  more  ago  to  justify  the 
importation  of  African  labor.  ...  As  it  is  now,  no  self- 
respecting  white  laborer  will  work  beside  the  Mongolian 
upon  any  terms.  The  proposition,  whether  we  shall 
have  white  or  yellow  labor  on  the  Pacific  coast,  must 
soon  be  settled,  for  we  cannot  have  both.  If  the  Mon- 
golian is  permitted  to  occupy  the  land,  the  white 
laborer  from  east  of  the  Rockies  will  not  come  here— 
he  will  shun  California  as  he  would  a  pestilence.  And 
who  can  blame  him?"3 

The  middle  as  well  as  the  working  class  is  imperilled 

1  Rowell,  op.  tit.,  Annals  of  the  American  Academy,  vol.  XXXIV, 
p.  10. 

2  Honorable  A.  G.  Burnett,  "Misunderstanding  of  Eastern  and  Wat- 
em  States  Regarding  Oriental  Immigration,"  Annals  of  the  American 
Academy,  vol.  XXXIV,  p.  41. 

s  A.  E.  Yoell,  "Oriental  versus  American  Labor,"  AnnaU  o/  the  Amer- 
ican Academy,  vol.  XXXIV,  p.  36. 


286    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

by  any  large  number  of  Orientals,  for  "The  presence 
of  the  Japanese  trader  means  that  the  white  man  must 
either  go  out  of  business  or  abandon  his  standard  of 
comfort  and  sink  to  the  level  of  the  Asiatic,  who  will 
sleep  under  his  counter  and  subsist  upon  food  that 
would  mean  starvation  to  his  white  rival."  * 

Indeed,  Californian  assertions  that  Oriental  immi- 
gration menaces,  not  merely  the  coast,  but  the  whole 
continent,  seem  well  taken.  This  view  was  officially 
indorsed  by  Mr.  Caminetti,  Commissioner-General  of 
Immigration,  who  testified  before  a  Congressional 
committee  some  years  ago:  "Asiatic  immigration  is  a 
menace  to  the  whole  country,  and  particularly  to  the 
Pacific  coast.  The  danger  is  general.  No  part  of 
the  United  States  is  immune.  The  Chinese  are  now 
spread  over  the  entire  country,  and  the  Japanese  want 
to  encroach.  The  Chinese  have  become  so  acclimated 
that  they  can  prosper  in  any  part  of  our  country.  .  .  . 
I  would  have  a  law  to  register  the  Asiatic  laborers  who 
come  into  the  country.  It  is  impossible  to  protect 
ourselves  from  persons  who  come  in  surreptitiously."2 

Fortunately,  the  majority  of  thinking  Americans  are 
to-day  convinced  that  Oriental  immigration  must  not 
be  tolerated.  Most  of  our  leading  men  have  so  ex- 
pressed themselves.  For  example,  Woodrow  Wilson, 
during  his  first  presidential  campaign,  declared  on 
May  3,  1912:  "In  the  matter  of  Chinese  and  Japanese 

1  S.  G.  P.  Coryn,  "The  Japanese  Problem  in  California,"  Annals  of  the 
American  Academy,  vol.  XXXIV,  pp.  43-44. 

2  Quoted  by  J.  D.  Whelpley,  "Japan  and  the  United  States,"  Fort- 
nightly Review,  May,  1914. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  287 

coolie  immigration,  I  stand  for  the  national  policy  of 
exclusion.  The  whole  question  is  one  of  assimilation 
of  diverse  races.  We  cannot  make  a  homogeneous 
population  of  a  people  who  do  not  blend  with  the  Cau- 
casian race.  Then-  lower  standard  of  living  as  laborers 
will  crowd  out  the  white  agriculturist  and  is  in  other 
fields  a  most  serious  industrial  menace.  The  success 
of  free  democratic  institutions  demands  of  our  people 
education,  intelligence,  and  patriotism,  and  the  State 
should  protect  them  against  unjust  and  impossible 
competition.  Remunerative  labor  is  the  basis  of  con- 
tentment. Democracy  rests  on  the  equality  of  the 
citizen.  Oriental  coolieism  will  give  us  another  race- 
problem  to  solve  and  surely  we  have  had  our  lesson." 1 

The  necessity  for  rigid  Oriental  exclusion  is  nowhere 
better  exemplified  than  by  the  alarm  felt  to-day  in 
California  by  the  extraordinarily  high  birth-rate  of  its 
Japanese  residents.  There  are  probably  not  over 
150,000  Japanese  in  the  whole  United  States,  their 
numbers  being  kept  down  by  the  "Gentlemen's  Agree- 
ment "  entered  into  by  the  Japanese  and  American 
Governments.  But,  few  though  they  are,  they  bring 
in  their  women — and  these  women  bring  many  children 
into  the  world.  The  California  Japanese  settle  in 
compact  agricultural  colonies,  which  so  teem  with 
babies  that  a  leading  California  organ,  the  Los  Angeles 
Times,  thus  seriously  discusses  the  matter: 

"There  may  have  been  a  time  when  an  anti-Japanese 

1  Quoted  by  Montaville  Flowers,  "The  Japanese  Conquest  of  Amvi- 

can  Opinion,"  p.  23  (New  York,  1917). 


288    THE   RISING   TIDE   OF   COLOR 

land  bill  would  have  limited  Japanese  immigration. 
But  such  a  law  would  be  impotent  now  to  keep  native 
Japanese  from  possessing  themselves  of  the  choicest 
agricultural  and  horticultural  land  in  California.  For 
there  are  now  more  than  30,000  children  in  the  State  of 
Japanese  parentage,  native-born;  they  possess  all  the 
rights  of  leasing  and  ownership  held  by  white  children 
born  here.  .  .  .  The  birth  statistics  seem  to  prove  that 
the  danger  is  not  from  the  Japanese  soldiers,  but  from 
the  picture  brides.  The  fruitfulness  of  those  brides  is 
almost  uncanny.  .  .  .  Here  is  a  Japanese  problem  of 
sufficient  gravity  to  merit  serious  consideration.  We 
are  threatened  with  an  over-production  of  Japanese 
children.  First  come  the  men,  then  the  picture  brides, 
then  the  families.  If  California  is  to  be  preserved  for 
the  next  generation  as  a  ' white  man's  country*  there 
must  be  some  movement  started  that  will  restrict  the 
Japanese  birth-rate  in  California.  When  a  condition 
is  reached  in  which  two  children  of  Japanese  parentage 
are  born  in  some  districts  for  every  white  child,  it  is 
about  time  something  else  was  done  than  making 
speeches  about  it  in  the  American  Senate.  .  .  .  (u  the 
same  present  birth-ratio  were  maintained  for  the  next 
ten  years,  there  would  be  150,000  children  of  Japanese 
descent  boni  in  California  in  1929  and  but  40,000  white 
children.  And  in  1949  the  majority  of  the  population 
of  California  would  be  Japanese,  ruling  the  State."  *) 
The  alarm  of  our  California  contemporary  may,  in 
this  particular  instance,  be  exaggerated.  Neverthe- 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  August  9, 1919,  p.  53. 


i 


THE    INNER    DIKES  289 

less,  when  we  remember  the  practically  unlimited  ex- 
pansive possibilities  of  even  small  human  groups  under 
favorable  conditions,  the  picture  drawn  contains  no 
features  inherently  impossible  of  realization.  What 
is  absolutely  certain  is  that  any  wholesale  Oriental 
influx  would  inevitably  doom  the  whites,  first  of  the 
Pacific  coast,  and  later  of  the  whole  United  States, 
to  social  sterilization  and  ultimate  racial  extinction. 

Thus  all  those  newer  regions  of  the  white  world  won 
by  the  white  expansion  of  the  last  four  centuries  are 
alike  menaced  by  the  colored  migration  peril;  whether 
these  regions  be  under-developed,  under-populated 
frontier  marches  like  Australia  and  British  Columbia, 
or  older  and  better-populated  countries  like  the  United 
States. 

And  let  not  Europe,  the  white  brood-land,  the  heart 
of  the  white  world,  think  itself  immune.  In  the  last 
analysis,  the  self-same  peril  menaces  it  too.  This 
has  long  been  recognized  by  far-sighted  men.  For 
many  years  economists  and  sociologists  have  dis- 
cussed the  possibility  of  Asiatic  immigration  into 
Europe.  Low  as  wages  and  living  standards  are  in 
many  European  countries,  they  are  yet  far  higher 
than  in  the  congested  East,  while  the  rapid  progress 
of  social  betterment  throughout  Europe  must  further 
widen  the  gap  and  make  the  white  continent  seem  a 
more  and  more  desirable  haven  for  the  swarming, 
black-haired  bread-seekers  of  China,  India,  and  Japan. 

Indeed,  a  few  observers  of  modern  conditions  have 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  this  invasion  of  Europe 


290    THE    RISING   TIDE   OF   COLOR 

by  Asiatic  labor  is  unescapable,  and  they  have  drawn 
the  most  pessimistic  conclusions.  For  example,  more 
than  a  decade  ago  an  English  writer  asserted  gloomily: 
"No  level-headed  thinker  can  imagine  that  it  will  al- 
ways be  possible  to  prevent  the  free  migration  of  in- 
telligent races,  representing  in  the  aggregate  half  the 
peoples  of  the  world,  should  those  peoples  actively 
conceive  that  their  welfare  demands  that  they  should 
seek  employment  in  Europe.  In  these  days  of  rapid 
transit,  of  aviation,  such  a  measure  of  repression  is 
impossible.  .  .  .  We  shall  not  be  destroyed,  perhaps, 
by  the  sudden  onrush  of  invaders,  as  Rome  was  over- 
whelmed by  the  northern  hordes;  we  shall  be  gradually 
subdued  and  absorbed  by  the  'peaceful  penetration'  of 
more  virile  races." * 

Now,  mark  you !  All  that  I  have  thus  far  written 
concerning  colored  immigration  has  been  written  with- 
out reference  to  the  late  war.  In  other  words,  the 
colored-migration  peril  would  have  been  just  as  grave 
as  I  have  described  it  even  if  the  white  world  were 
still  as  strong  as  in  the  years  before  1914. 

But  the  war  has  of  course  immensely  aggravated  an 
already  critical  situation.  The  war  has  shaken  both 
the  material  and  psychological  bases  of  white  resistance 
to  colored  infiltration,  while  it  has  correspondingly 
strengthened  Asiatic  hopes  and  hardened  Asiatic  de- 
termination to  break  down  the  barriers  debarring 
colored  men  from  white  lands. 

1 J.  S.  Little,  "The  Doom  of  Western  Civilization,17  pp.  56  and  63 
(London,  1907). 


THE    INNER    DIKES  291 

Asia's  perception  of  what  the  war  signified  in  this 
respect  was  instantaneous.  The  war  was  not  a  month 
old  before  Japanese  journals  were  suggesting  a  relaxa- 
tion of  Asiatic  exclusion  laws  in  the  British  colonies  as 
a  natural  corollary  to  the  Anglo-Japanese  Alliance 
and  Anglo-Japanese  comradeship  in  arms.  Said  the 
Tokio  Mainichi  Deupo  in  August,  1914:  "  We  are  con- 
vinced that  it  is  a  matter  of  the  utmost  importance 
that  Britons  beyond  the  seas  should  make  a  better  at- 
tempt at  fraternizing  with  Japan,  as  better  relations 
between  the  English-speaking  races  and  Japan  will 
have  a  vital  bearing  on  the  destiny  of  the  empire. 
(There  is  no  reason  why  the  British  colonies  fronting  on 
the  Pacific  should  not  actively  participate  in  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  Alliance. /Britain  needs  population  for  her 
surplus  land  and  Japan  needs  land  for  her  surplus 
population.  ;  This  fact  alone  should  draw  the  two  races 
closer  together.  Moreover,  the  British  people  have 
ample  capital  but  deficiency  of  labor,  while  it  is  the 
reverse  with  Japan.  .  .  .  The  harmonious  co-operation 
of  Britain  and  her  colonies  with  Japan  insures  safety 
to  British  and  Japanese  interests  alike.  Without  such 
co-operation,  Japan  and  Great  Britain  are  both  un- 
safe." l 

What  this  "co-operation"  implies  was  very  frankly 
stated  by  The  Japan  Magazine  at  about  the  same  date: 
"There  is  nothing  that  would  do  so  much  to  bind  East 
and  West  firmly  together  as  the  opening  of  the  British 
colonies  to  Japanese  immigration.  Then,  indeed, 

1  The  Literary  Digest,  Auguit  29,  1914,  p.  337. 


292    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

Britain  would  be  a  lion  endowed  with  wings.  Large 
numbers  of  Japanese  in  the  British  colonies  would 
mean  that  Britain  would  have  the  assistance  of  Japan 
in  the  protection  of  her  colonies.  But  if  an  anti-Japa- 
nese agitation  is  permitted,  both  countries  will  be 
making  the  worst  instead  of  the  best  of  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  Alliance.  Thus  it  would  be  allowed  to  make 
Japan  an  enemy  instead  of  a  friend.  It  seems  that 
the  British  people  both  at  home  and  in  the  colonies 
are  not  yet  alive  to  the  importance  of  the  policy  sug- 
gested, and  it  is,  therefore,  pointed  out  and  emphasized 
before  it  is  too  late." 1 

The  covert  threat  embodied  in  those  last  lines  was 
a  forerunner  of  the  storm  of  anti-white  abuse  which 
rose  from  the  more  bellicose  sections  of  the  Japanese 
press  as  soon  as  it  became  evident  that  neither  the 
British  Dominions  nor  the  United  States  were  going 
to  relax  their  immigration  laws.  Some  of  this  anti- 
white  comment,  directed  particularly  against  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  peoples,  I  have  already  noted  in  the  second 
chapter  of  this  book,  but  such  comment  as  bears  di- 
rectly on  immigration  matters  I  have  reserved  for 
discussion  at  this  point. 

For  example,  the  Tokio  Yorodzu  wrote  early  in  1916: 
"Japan  has  been  most  faithful  to  the  requirements  of 
the  Anglo-Japanese  Alliance,  and  yet  the  treatment 
meted  out  to  our  countrymen  in  Canada,  Australia,  and 
other  British  colonies  has  been  a  glaring  insult  to  us."2 


1  The  Literary  Digest,  August  29,  1914,  pp.  337-8. 
8  Ibid.,  April  22,  1916,  p.  1138. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  293 

A  year  later  a  writer  in  The  Japan  Magazine  declared  : 
"The  agitation  against  Japanese  in  foreign  countries 
must  cease,  even  if  Japan  has  to  take  up  arms  to  stop 
it.  She  should  not  allow  her  immigration  to  be  treated 
as  a  race-question."1  And  in  1919  the  Yvrodzu 
thus  paid  its  respects  to  the  exclusionist  activity  of 
our  Pacific  coast  States:  "Whatever  may  be  their 
object,  their  actions  are  more  despicable  than  those 
of  the  Germans  whose  barbarities  they  attacked  as 
worthy  of  Huns.  At  least,  these  Americans  are  bar- 
barians who  are  on  a  lower  plane  of  civilization  than 
the  Japanese."2 

Hie  war  produced  no  letting  down  of  immigration 
barriers  along  the  white  world's  exposed  frontiers, 
where  men  are  fully  alive  to  the  peril.  But  the  war 
did  produce  temporary  waverings  of  sentiment  in  the 
United  States,  while  in  Europe  colored  labor  was  im- 
ported wholesale  in  ways  which  may  have  ominous 
consequences. 

Our  own  acute  labor  shortage  during  the  war,  par- 
ticularly in  agriculture,  led  many  Americans,  espe- 
cially employers,  to  cast  longing  eyes  at  the  tempting 
reservoirs  of  Asia.  Typical  of  this  attitude  is  an  ar- 
ticle by  Hudson  Maxim  in  the  spring  of  1918.  Mr. 
Maxim  urged  the  importation  of  a  million  Chinese 
to  solve  our  farming  and  domestic-service  problems. 

"If  it  is  possible,"  he  wrote,  "by  the  employment 
of  Chinese  methods  of  intensive  farming,  to  increase 

1  Quoted  in  The  Review  of  Reviews  (London),  February,  1917,  p.  174. 
1  The  Literary  Digest,  July  5,  1919,  p.  31. 


294    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

the  production  of  our  lands  to  such  an  extent,  how 
stupendous  would  be  the  benefit  of  wide  introduction 
of  such  methods.  The  exhausted  lands  of  New  Eng- 
land could  be  made  to  produce  like  a  tropical  garden. 
The  vast  areas  of  the  great  West  that  are  to-day  not 
producing  10  per  cent  of  what  they  ought  to  produce 
could  be  made  to  produce  the  other  90  per  cent  by 
the  introduction  of  Chinese  labor.  .  .  .  The  average 
American  does  not  like  farming.  The  sons  of  the 
prosperous  farmers  do  not  take  kindly  to  the  tilling 
of  the  soil  with  their  own  hands.  They  prefer  the 
excitement  and  the  diversions  and  stimulus  of  the  life 
of  city  and  town,  and  they  leave  the  farm  for  the  office 
and  factory.  .  .  . 

"Chinese,  imported  as  agricultural  laborers  and 
household  servants,  would  solve  the  agricultural  labor 
problem  and  the  servant  problem,  and  we  should  have 
the  best  agricultural  workers  in  the  world  and  the 
best  household  servants  in  the  world,  in  unlimited 
numbers." 1 

f    Now  I  submit  that  such  arguments,  however  well- 
yatentioned,   are  nothing  short  of  race-treason.     If 
there  he  one  truth  which  history  has  proved,  it  is  the 
solemn  truth  that  those  who  work  the  land  will  ulti- 
mately own  the  land.  J 

Furthermore,  the  cduntryside  is  the  seed-bed  from 
which  the  city  populations  are  normally  recruited. 
The  one  bright  spot  in  our  otherwise  dubious  ethnic 
future  is  the  fact  that  most  of  our  unassimilable  aliens 

1  Leslie's  Weekly,  May  4,  1918. 


THE    INNER    DIKES  295 

have  stopped  in  the  towns,  while  many  of  the  most 
assimilable  immigrants  have  settled  in  the  country, 
thus  reinforcing  rather  than  replacing  our  native 
American  rural  population.  Any  suggestion  which  ad- 
vocates the  settlement  of  our  countryside  by  Asiatics 
and  the  deliberate  driving  of  our  native  stocks  to  the 
towns,  there  to  be  sterilized  and  eliminated,  is  simply 
unspeakable. 

Fortunately,  such  fatal  counsels  were  with  us  never 
acted  upon,  albeit  they  should  be  remembered  as  lurk- 
ing perils  which  will  probably  be  urged  again  in  future 
times  of  stress.  (But  during  Europe's  war-agony,  yel- 
low, brown,  and  black  men  were  imported  wholesale, 
not  only  for  the  armies,  but  also  for  the  factories  and 
fields.  These  colored  aliens  have  mostly  been  shipped 
back  to  their  homes.  Nevertheless,  they  have  carried 
with  them  vivid  recollections  of  the  marvellous  West, 
and  the  tale  will  spread  to  the  remotest  corners  of  the 
colored  world,  stirring  hard-pressed  colored  bread- 
seekers  to  distant  ventures.  Furthermore,  Europe 
has  had  a  practical  demonstration  of  the  colored  alien's 
manifold  usefulness,  and  if  Europe's  troubles  are  pro- 
longed, the  colored  man  may  be  increasingly  employed 
there  both  in  peace  and  war.  / 

Even  during  the  war  the  French  and  English  working 
classes  felt  the  pressure  of  colored  competition.  Race- 
feeling  grew  strained,  and  presently  both  England  and 
France  witnessed  the  (to  them)  unwonted  spectacles 
of  race-riots  in  their  port-towns  where  the  colored 
aliens  were  most  thickly  gathered.  An  American  ob- 


296    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

server  thus  describes  the  "breaking  of  the  exclusion 
walls  erected  against  the  Chinese  ": 

"In  London,  one  Wednesday  evening,  twenty-four 
months  ago  (i.  e.,  in  1916),  there  was  a  mass-meeting 
held  on  the  corner  of  Piggot  Street,  Limehouse,  to  pro- 
test against  the  influx  of  John  Chinaman  into  bonny  old 
England.  .  .  .  The  London  navvies  that  night  heard 
a  protest  against  'the  Chinese  invasion'  of  Britain. 
They  knew  that  down  on  the  London  docks  there  were 
two  Chinamen  to  every  white  man  since  the  coming 
of  war.  They  knew  that  many  of  these  yellow  aliens 
were  married.  They  knew,  too,  that  a  big  Chinese 
restaurant  had  just  opened  down  the  West  India  Dock 
Road. 

"The  Sailors'  and  Firemen's  Union — one  of  the 
most  powerful  in  England — carried  the  protest  into 
the  Trades-Union  Congress  held  at  Birmingham. 
There,  alarm  was  voiced  at  the  steady  increase  in  the 
number  of  Chinese  hands  on  Britain's  ships.  It  was 
an  increase,  true,  since  the  stress  of  war-times  had  be- 
gun to  try  Britain.  But  what  England's  sons  of  the 
seven  seas  wanted  to  know  was:  when  is  'this  Orien- 
talizing' of  the  British  marine  to  stop?  .  .  .  The  sea- 
men's unions  were  willing  to  do  their  bit  for  John  Bull, 
but  they  wondered  what  was  going  to  happen  after  the 
coming  of  peace.  Would  the  Chinese  continue  to  man 
John  Bull's  ships?  .  .  . 

"Such  is  one  manifestation  of  the  decisive  lifting 
of  gates  and  barriers  that  has  taken  place  since  the 
white  world  went  to  war.  To-day  the  Chinese — for 


THE    INNER    DIKES  297 

decades  finding  a  wall  in  every  white  man's  country — 
are  numbered  by  the  tens  of  thousands  in  the  service 
of  the  Allies.  They  have  made  good.  They  are  a 
war-factor.  ...  All  told,  200,000  Chinese  are  '  carry- 
ing on'  in  the  war-zone,  laboring  behind  the  lines,  in 
munition-works  and  factories,  manning  ships.  .  .  . 

"What  will  happen  when  peace  comes  upon  this 
red  world — a  world  turned  topsyturvy  by  the  white 
man's  Great  War,  which  has  taken  John  Chinaman 
from  Shantung,  Chihli,  and  Kwangtung  to  that  battle- 
ground in  France?  .  .  .  That  makes  the  drafting  of 
China's  man-power  one  of  the  most  supremely  impor- 
tant events  in  the  Great  War.  The  family  of  nations  is 
taking  on  a  new  meaning — John  Chinaman  overseas  has 
a  place  in  it.  As  Italian  harvest-labor  before  the  war 
went  to  and  from  Argentina  for  a  few  months'  work, 
so  the  Chinese  have  gone  to  Europe  under  contract 
and  go  home  again.  Perhaps  this  action  will  have  a 
bearing  on  the  solution  of  the  Far  West's  agricultural 
labor  problem. 

"Do  not  believe  for  a  moment  that  the  armies  of 
Chinese  in  Europe  will  forget  the  lessons  taught  them 
in  the  West.  When  these  sons  of  Han  come  home, 
the  Great  War  will  be  found  to  have  given  birth  to  a 
new  East."1 

So  ends  our  survey.  It  has  girdled  the  globe.  And 
the  lesson  is  always  the  same:  Colored  migration  is  a 
universal  peril,  menacing  every  part  of  the  white  world.  > 

1  G.  C.  Hodges  in  The  Sunset  Magazine.  Quoted  by  The  Literary 
Digest,  September  14,  1918,  pp.  40-42. 


298    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

Nowhere  can  the  white  man  endure  colored  competi- 
tion; everywhere  "the  East  can  underlive  the  West." 
The  grim  truth  of  the  matter  is  this:  The  whole  white 
race  is  exposed,  immediately  or  ultimately,  to  the 
possibility  of  social  sterilization  and  final  replacement 
or  absorption  by  the  teeming  colored  races.  } 

What  this  unspeakable  catastrophe  would  mean  for 
the  future  of  the  planet,  and  how  the  peril  may  be 
averted,  will  form  the  subject  of  my  concluding  pages. 


CHAPTER  XII 
THE  CRISIS  OF  THE  AGES 

OURS  is  a  solemn  moment.  We  stand  at  a  crisis — the 
supreme  crisis  of  the  ages.  For  unnumbered  millenni- 
ums man  has  toiled  upward  from  the  dank  jungles  of 
savagery  toward  glorious  heights  which  his  mental  and 
spiritual  potentialities  give  promise  that  he  shall  at- 
tain. His  path  has  been  slow  and  wavering.  Time 
and  again  he  has  lost  his  way  and  plunged  into  deep 
valleys.  Man's  trail  is  littered  with  the  wrecks  of 
dead  civilizations  and  dotted  with  the  graves  of  promis- 
ing peoples  stricken  by  an  untimely  end. 

Humanity  has  thus  suffered  many  a  disaster.  Yet 
none  of  these  disasters  were  fatal,  because  they  were 
merely  local.  Those  wrecked  civilizations  and  blighted 
peoples  were  only  parts  of  a  larger  whole.  Always 
some  strong  barbarians,  endowed  with  rich,  unspoiled 
heredities,  caught  the  falling  torch  and  bore  it  on- 
ward flaming  high  once  more. 

Out  of  the  prehistoric  shadows  the  white  races 
pressed  to  the  front  and  proved  in  a  myriad  ways  their 
fitness  for  the  hegemony  of  mankind.  Gradually  they 
forged  a  common  civilization;  then,  when  vouchsafed 
their  unique  opportunity  of  oceanic  mastery  four  cen- 
turies ago,  they  spread  over  the  earth,  filling  its  empty 
spaces  with  their  superior  breeds  and  assuring  to  them- 

299 


300    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

selves  an  unparalleled  paramountcy  of  numbers  and 
dominion. 

Three  centuries  later  the  whites  took  a  fresh  leap 
forward.  The  nineteenth  century  was  a  new  age  of 
discovery — this  time  into  the  realms  of  science.  The 
hidden  powers  of  nature  were  unveiled,  incalculable 
energies  were  tamed  to  human  use,  terrestrial  distance 
was  abridged,  and  at  last  the  planet  was  integrated 
under  the  hegemony  of  a  single  race  with  a  common 
civilization. 

The  prospects  were  magnificent,  the  potentialities 
of  progress  apparently  unlimited.  Yet  there  were 
commensurate  perils.  Towering  heights  mean  abys- 
mal depths,  while  the  very  possibility  of  supreme  suc- 
cess implies  the  possibility  of  supreme  failure.  All 
these  marvellous  achievements  were  due  solely  to 
superior  heredity,  and  the  mere  maintenance  of  what 
had  been  won  depended  absolutely  upon  the  prior 
maintenance  of  race-values.  Civilization  of  itself 
means  nothing.  It  is  merely  an  effect,  whose  cause 
is  the  creative  urge  of  superior  germ-plasm.  Civiliza- 
tion is  the  body;  the  race  is  the  soul.  Let  the  soul 
vanish,  and  the  body  moulders  into  the  inanimate 
dust  from  which  it  came. 

Two  things  are  necessary  for  the  continued  exist- 
ence of  a  race:  it  must  remain  itself,  and  it  must  breed 
its  best.  Every  race  is  the  result  of  ages  of  develop- 
ment which  evolves  specialized  capacities  that  make 
the  race  what  it  is  and  render  it  capable  of  creative 
achievement.  These  specialized  capacities  (which 


THE    CRISIS    OF    THE    AGES     301 

particularly  mark  the  superior  races),  being  relatively 
recent  developments,  are  highly  unstable.  They  are 
what  biologists  call  "recessive"  characters;  that  is, 
they  are  not  nearly  so  "dominant"  as  the  older,  gen- 
eralized characters  which  races  inherit  from  remote 
ages  and  which  have  therefore  been  more  firmly  stamped 
upon  the  germ-plasm.  Hence,  when  a  highly  special- 
ized stock  interbreeds  with  a  different  stock,  the  newer, 
less  stable,  specialized  characters  are  bred  out,  the 
variation,  no  matter  how  great  its  potential  value  to 
human  evolution,  being  irretrievably  lost.  This  occurs 
even  in  the  mating  of  two  superior  stocks  if  these 
stocks  are  widely  dissimilar  in  character.  The  valu- 
able specializations  of  both  breeds  cancel  out,  and  the 
mixed  offspring  tend  strongly  to  revert  to  generalized 
mediocrity. 

And,  of  course,  the  more  primitive  a  type  is,  the  more 
prepotent  it  is.  This  is  why  crossings  with  the  negro 
are  uniformly  fatal.  Whites,  Amerindians,  or  Asiat- 
ics— all  are  alike  vanquished  by  the  invincible  pre- 
potency of  the  more  primitive,  generalized,  and  lower 
negro  blood. 

There  is  no  immediate  danger  of  the  world  being 
swamped  by  black  blood.  But  there  is  a  very  im- 
minent danger  that  the  white  stocks  may  be  swamped 
by  Asiatic  blood. 

The  white  man's  very  triumphs  have  evoked  this 
danger.  His  virtual  abolition  of  distance  has  de- 
stroyed the  protection  which  nature  once  conferred. 
Formerly  mankind  dwelt  in  such  dispersed  isolation 


302    THE    RISING   TIDE    OF   COLOfc 

>d| 

that  wholesale  contact  of  distant,  diverse  stocks  was 
practically  impossible.  But  with  the  development  of 
cheap  and  rapid  transportation,  nature's  barriers  are 
down.  Unless  man  erects  and  maintains  artificial 
barriers  the  various  races  will  increasingly  mingle,  and 
the  inevitable  result  will  be  the  supplanting  or  absorp- 
tion of  the  higher  by  the  lower  types. 

We  can  see  this  process  working  out  in  almost 
every  phase  of  modern  migration.  The  white  immi- 
gration into  Latin  America  is  the  exception  which 
proves  the  rule.  That  particular  migration  is,  of  course, 
beneficent,  since  it  means  the  influx  of  relatively  high 
types  into  undeveloped  lands,  sparsely  populated  by 
types  either  no  higher  or  much  lower  than  the  new 
arrivals.  But  almost  everywhere  else,  whether  we 
consider  interwhite  migrations  or  colored  encroach- 
ments on  white  lands,  the  net  result  is  an  expansion 
of  lower  and  a  contraction  of  higher  stocks,  the  process 
being  thus  a  disgenic  one.  Even  in  Asia  the  evils  of 
modern  migration  are  beginning  to  show.  The  Japa- 
nese Government  has  been  obliged  to  prohibit  the  in- 
flux of  Chinese  and  Korean  coolies  who  were  under- 
cutting Japanese  labor  and  thus  undermining  the  eco- 
nomic bases  of  Japanese  life. 

Furthermore,  modern  migration  is  itself  only  one 
aspect  of  a  still  more  fundamental  disgenic  trend.  The 
whole  course  of  modern  urban  and  industrial  life  is 
disgenic.  Over  and  above  immigration,  the  tendency 
is  toward  a  replacement  of  the  more  valuable  by  the 
less  valuable  elements  of  the  population.  All  over 


THE    CRISIS   OF   THE    AGES     303 

the  civilized  world  racial  values  are  diminishing,  and 
the  logical  end  of  this  disgenic  process  is  racial  bank- 
ruptcy and  the  collapse  of  civilization. 

Now  why  is  all  this?  It  is  primarily  because  we 
have  not  yet  adjusted  ourselves  to  the  radically  new 
environment  into  which  our  epochal  scientific  dis- 
coveries led  us  a  century  ago.  Such  adaptation  as  we 
have  effected  has  been  almost  wholly  on  the  material 
side.  The  no  less  sweeping  idealistic  adaptations  which 
the  situation  calls  for  have  not  been  made.  Hence, 
modern  civilization  has  been  one-sided,  abnormal, 
unhealthy — and  nature  is  exacting  penalties  which 
will  increase  in  severity  until  we  either  fully  adapt  or 
finally  perish. 

"Finally  perish!"  That  is  the  exact  alternative 
which  confronts  the  white  race.  For  white  civilization 
is  to-day  conterminous  with  the  white  race.  The  civili- 
zations of  the  past  were  local.  They  were  confined 
to  a  particular  people  or  group  of  peoples.  If  they 
failed,  there  were  always  some  unspoiled,  well-endowed 
barbarians  to  step  forward  and  "carry  on."  But  to- 
day there  are  no  more  while  barbarians.  The  earth  has 
grown  small,  and  men  are  everywhere  in  close  touch. 
If  white  civilization  goes  down,  the  white  race  is  irre- 
trievably ruined.  It  will  be  swamped  by  the  trium- 
phant colored  races,  who  will  obliterate  the  white  man 
by  elimination  or  absorption.  What  has  taken  place 
in  Central  Asia,  once  a  white  and  now  a  brown  or  yellow 
land,  will  take  place  in  Australasia,  Europe,  and  Amer- 
ica. Not  to-day,  nor  yet  to-morrow;  perhaps  not  for 


304    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

generations;  but  surely  in  the  end.  If  the  present 
drift  be  not  changed;  we  whites  are  all  ultimately 
doomed.  Unless  we  set  our  house  in  order,  the  doom 
will  sooner  or  later  overtake  us  all. 

And  that  would  mean  that  the  race  obviously  en- 
dowed with  the  greatest  creative  ability,  the  race 
which  had  achieved  most  in  the  past  and  which  gave 
the  richer  promise  for  the  future,  1iad  passed  away, 
carrying  with  it  to  the  grave  those  potencies  upon 
which  the  realization  of  man's  highest  hopes  depends. 
A  million  years  of  human  evolution  might  go  un- 
crowned, and  earth's  supreme  life-product,  man,  might 
never  fulfil  his  potential  destiny.  This  is  why  we  to- 
day face  "The  Crisis  of  the  Ages." 

To  many  minds  the  mere  possibility  of  such  a  catas- 
trophe may  seem  unthinkable.  Yet  a  dispassionate 
survey  of  the  past  shows  that  it  is  not  only  possible 
but  probable  if  present  conditions  go  on  unchanged. 
The  whole  history  of  life,  both  human  and  subhuman, 
teaches  us  that  nature  will  not  condone  disobedience; 
that,  as  I  have  already  phrased  it,  ano  living  being 
stands  above  her  law,  and  protozoon  or  demigod,  if 
they  transgress,  alike  must  die." 

Now  we  have  transgressed;  grievously  transgressed 
— and  we  are  suffering  grievous  penalties.  But  pain 
is  really  kind.  Pain  is  the  importunate  tocsin  which 
rouses  to  dangerous  realities  and  spurs  to  the  seeking 
of  a  cure. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  we  are  confusedly  aware  of  our 
evil  plight,  and  legion  are  the  remedies  to-day  pro- 


THE    CRISIS    OF   THE   AGES     305 

posed.  Some  of  these  are  mere  quack  nostrums.  Others 
contain  valuable  remedial  properties.  To  be  sure,  there 
is  probably  no  one  curative  agent,  since  our  troubles 
are  complex  and  magic  elixirs  heal  only  in  the  realm 
of  dreams.  But  one  element  should  be  fundamental 
to  all  the  compoundings  of  the  social  pharmacopoeia. 
That  element  is  blood. 

It  is  clean,  virile,  genius-bearing  blood,  streaming 
down  the  ages  through  the  unerring  action  of  heredity, 
which,  in  anything  like  a  favorable  environment,  will 
multiply  itself,  solve  our  problems,  and  sweep  us  on 
to  higher  and  nobler  destinies.  What  we  to-day  need 
above  all  else  is  a  changed  attitude  of  mind — a  recog- 
nition of  the  supreme  importance  of  heredity,  not 
merely  in  scientific  treatises  but  in  the  practical  order- 
ing of  the  world's  affairs.  We  are  where  we  are  to- 
day primarily  because  we  have  neglected  this  vital 
principle;  because  we  have  concerned  ourselves  with 
dead  things  instead  of  with  living  beings. 

This  disregard  of  heredity  is  perhaps  not  strange. 
It  is  barely  a  generation  since  its  fundamental  im- 
portance was  scientifically  established,  and  the  world's 
conversion  to  even  the  most  vital  truth  takes  time. 
In  fact,  we  also  have  much  to  unlearn.  A  little  while 
ago  we  were  taught  that  all  men  were  equal  and  that 
good  conditions  could,  of  themselves,  quickly  perfect 
mankind.  The  seductive  charm  of  these  dangerous 
fallacies  lingers  and  makes  us  loath  to  put  them  reso- 
lutely aside. 

Fortunately,  we  now  know  the  truth.    At  last  we 


306    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

have  been  vouchsafed  clear  insight  into  the  laws  of 
life.  We  now  know  that  men  are  not;  and  never  will 
be,  equal.  We  know  that  environment  and  education 
can  develop  only  what  heredity  brings.  We  know 
that  the  acquirements  of  individuals  are  either  not 
inherited  at  all  or  are  inherited  in  so  slight  a  degree 
as  to  make  no  perceptible  difference  from  generation 
to  generation.  In  other  words:  we  now  know  that 
heredity  is  paramount  in  human  evolution,  all  other 
things  being  secondary  factors. 

This  basic  truth  is  already  accepted  by  large  num- 
bers of  thinking  men  and  women  all  over  the  civilized 
world,  and  if  it  becomes  firmly  fixed  in  the  popular 
consciousness  it  will  work  nothing  short  of  a  revolution 
in  the  ordering  of  the  world's  affairs. 

For  race-betterment  is  such  an  intensely  practical 
matter !  When  peoples  come  to  realize  that  the  quality 
of  the  population  is  the  source  of  all  their  prosperity, 
progress,  security,  and  even  existence;  when  they  real- 
ize that  a  single  genius  may  be  worth  more  in  actual 
dollars  than  a  dozen  gold-mines,  while,  conversely,  ra- 
cial decline  spells  material  impoverishment  and  decay; 
when  such  things  are  really  believed,  we  shall  see  much- 
abused  "eugenics"  actually  moulding  social  pro- 
grammes and  political  policies.  Were  the  white  world 
to-day  really  convinced  of  the  supreme  importance  of 
race-values,  how  long  would  it  take  to  stop  debasing 
immigration,  reform  social  abuses  that  are  killing  out 
the  fittest  strains,  and  put  an  end  to  the  feuds  which 


THE    CRISIS   OF   THE    AGES     307 

have  just  sent  us  through  hell  and  threaten  to  send  us 
promptly  back  again  ? 

Well,  perhaps  our  change  of  heart  may  come  sooner 
than  now  appears.  The  horrors  of  the  war,  the  disap- 
pointment of  the  peace,  the  terror  of  Bolshevism, 
and  the  rising  tide  of  color  have  knocked  a  good  deal 
of  the  nonsense  out  of  us,  and  have  given  multitudes 
a  hunger  for  realities  who  were  before  content  with 
a  diet  of  phrases.  Said  wise  old  Benjamin  Franklin: 
"Dame  Experience  sets  a  dear  school,  but  fools  will 
have  no  other."  Our  course  at  the  dame's  school  is 
already  well  under  way  and  promises  to  be  exceeding 
dear. 

Only,  it  is  to  be  hoped  our  education  will  be  rapid, 
for  time  presses  and  the  hour  is  grave.  If  certain  les- 
sons are  not  learned  and  acted  upon  shortly,  we  may 
be  overwhelmed  by  irreparable  disasters  and  all  our 
dear  schooling  will  go  for  naught. 

What  are  the  things  we  must  do  promptly  if  we  would 
avert  the  worst?  This  "irreducible  minimum"  runs 
about  as  follows: 

First  and  foremost,  the  wretched  Versailles  busi- 
ness will  have  to  be  thoroughly  revised.  As  it  stands, 
dragon's  teeth  have  been  sown  over  both  Europe  and 
Asia,  and  unless  they  be  plucked  up  they  will  pres- 
ently grow  a  crop  of  cataclysms  which  will  seal  the 
white  world's  doom. 

Secondly,  some  sort  of  provisional  understanding 
must  be  arrived  at  between  the  white  world  and  renas- 


308    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF    COLOR 

cent  Asia.  We  whites  will  have  to  abandon  our  tacit 
assumption  of  permanent  domination  over  Asia,  while 
Asiatics  will  have  to  forego  their  dreams  of  migration 
to  white  lands  and  penetration  of  Africa  and  Latin 
America.  Unless  some  such  understanding  is  arrived 
at,  the  world  will  drift  into  a  gigantic  race-war — and 
genuine  race-war  means  war  to  the  knife.  Such  a 
hideous  catastrophe  should  be  abhorrent  to  both  sides. 
Nevertheless,  Asia  should  be  given  clearly  to  under- 
stand that  we  cannot  permit  either  migration  to  white 
lands  or  penetration  of  the  non-Asiatic  tropics,  and 
that  for  these  matters  we  prefer  to  fight  to  a  finish 
rather  than  yield  to  a  finish — because  our  "finish" 
is  precisely  what  surrender  on  these  points  would 
mean. 

Thirdly,  even  within  the  white  world,  migrations  of 
lower  human  types  like  those  which  have  worked  such 
havoc  in  the  United  States  must  be  rigorously  cur- 
tailed. Such  migrations  upset  standards,  sterilize 
better  stocks,  increase  low  types,  and  compromise 
national  futures  more  than  war,  revolutions,  or  native 
deterioration. 

Such  are  the  things  which  simply  must  be  done  if 
we  are  to  get  through  the  next  few  decades  without 
convulsions  which  may  render  impossible  the  white 
world's  recovery. 

These  things  will  not  bring  in  the  millennium.  Far 
from  it.  Our  ills  are  so  deep-seated  that  in  nearly 
every  civilized  country  racial  values  would  continue 
to  depreciate  even  if  all  three  were  carried  into  effect. 


THE    CRISIS   OF   THE    AGES'   309 

But  they  will  at  least  give  our  wounds  a  chance  to 
heal,  and  they  will  give  the  new  biological  revelation 
time  to  permeate  the  popular  consciousness  and  trans- 
fuse with  a  new  idealism  our  materialistic  age.  Aa 
the  years  pass,  the  supreme  importance  of  heredity 
and  the  supreme  value  of  superior  stocks  will  sink  into 
our  being,  and  we  will  acquire  a  true  race-conscious- 
ness (as  opposed  to  national  or  cultural  consciousness) 
which  will  bridge  political  gulfs,  remedy  social  abuses, 
and  exorcise  the  lurking  spectre  of  miscegenation. 

In  those  better  days,  we  or  the  next  generation  will 
take  in  hand  the  problem  of  race-depreciation,  and 
segregation  of  defectives  and  abolition  of  handicaps 
penalizing  the  better  stocks  will  put  an  end  to  our 
present  racial  decline.  By  that  time  biological  knowl- 
edge will  have  so  increased  and  the  popular  philosophy 
of  life  will  have  been  so  idealized  that  it  will  be  pos- 
sible to  inaugurate  positive  measures  of  race-better- 
ment which  will  unquestionably  yield  the  most  won- 
derful results. 

Those  splendid  tasks  are  probably  not  ours.  They 
are  for  our  successors  in  a  happier  age.  But  we  have 
our  task,  and  God  knows  it  is  a  hard  one — the  salvage 
of  a  shipwrecked  world !  Ours  it  is  to  make  possible 
that  happier  age,  whose  full-fruits  we  shall  never  see. 

Well,  what  of  it?  Does  not  the  new  idealism  teach 
us  that  we  are  links  in  a  vital  chain,  charged  with  high 
duties  both  to  the  dead  and  the  unborn?  In  very 
truth  we  are  at  once  sons  of  sires  who  sleep  in  calm 
assurance  that  we  will  not  betray  the  trust  they  con- 


310    THE    RISING    TIDE    OF   COLOR 

fided  to  our  hands,  and  sires  of  sons  who  in  the  Be- 
yond wait  confident  that  we  shall  not  cheat  them  of 
their  birthright. 

Let  us,  then,  act  in  the  spirit  of  Kipling's  immortal 
lines: 

"Our  Fathers  in  a  wondrous  age, 
Ere  yet  the  Earth  was  small, 
Ensured  to  us  an  heritage, 
And  doubted  not  at  all 
That  we,  the  children  of  their  heart, 
Which  then  did  beat  so  high, 
In  later  time  should  play  like  part 
For  our  posterity. 
******* 

Then,  fretful,  murmur  not  they  gave 

So  great  a  charge  to  keep, 

Nor  dream  that  awestruck  Time  shall  save 

Their  labor  while  we  sleep. 

Dear-bought  and  clear,  a  thousand  year 

Our  fathers'  title  runs. 

Make  we  likewise  their  sacrifice, 

Defrauding  not  our  sons. "  * 

tRudyard  Kipling,  "The  Heritage."  Dedicatory  poem  to  the 
volume  entitled  "  The  Empire  and  the  Century  "  (London,  1905),  the 
volume  being  a  collaboration  by  prominent  British  writers. 


INDEX 


INDEX 


Abd-el-Wahab,  58 
Abyssinia,  4.  89 

Afghanistan,  independence  of,  4,  56; 
Germany's  relations  with,  212; 
Bolshevik  propaganda  in,  220 
Africa,  3.  5 ;  effect  of  Russo-Japanese 
War  on,  12,  15;  partition  of,  24, 
89,  149  JT. ,  152;  European  con- 
quests in,  70;  growth  of  Moham- 
medanism in,  65;  67;  Germany  hi, 
204 

North,  brown  race  In,  7;  57,  68, 
83  ff.,  199;  Bolshevik  agitators 
in,  220;  brown  power  to,  93  ff. ; 
spread  of  Arab  blood  in,  93; 
native  white  blood  in,  93  ff.; 
role  of  Islam  in,  94,  101,  235. 
142,  147 

South,  10,  84;  home  of  black 
race,  7,  54,  87  ff.;  white  coloni- 
zation of.  89;  wealth  of.  89 
ff.;  result  of  white  rule  in,  91, 
92;  spread  of  Islam  in,  94  ff., 
235 ;  Christianity  to,  95  ff. ;  anti- 
white  sentiment  to,  97  ff. ;  up- 
rising of  1915,  99;  situation 
of,  lOOjf.;  white  settlement 
to,  225 ;  danger  of  Asiatic  pene- 
tration into,  232,  249;  results 
of  Asiatic  penetration  into, 
272^.,  277;  Exclusion  Act  to, 
281,  308;  result  of  Asiatic 
labor  to,  278,  280;  Mauritius 
settled  from,  280 
Algeria,  67;  riots  to,  77,  82;  white 

blood  to,  93  ff. 

Allies  of  the  Great  War,  40,  214 
Al  Mowwayad,  71 
Alpine  race,  162  ff.,  165,  and  the  war, 

183;  202,  261 

America,  4;  black  race  to.  7.  87  ff., 
99;  race  prejudice  to,  11;  36;  mili- 
tary preparations  to,  39;  Japan's 
attitude  toward,  51  ff. ;  red  man  in, 
104;  discovery  of,  147;  settlement 
of,  149;  cost  of  war  to,  177;  tri- 
umph of,  214;  danger  to  white  race 


Central,  white  civilization  in, 
113;  race-mixture  in,  128  ff.; 
Japanese  in,  131.  138 /. 


Lathi,  red  man  in.  7.  104;  Japa- 
nese to,  48,  131  ff.;    evolution 
of.  105;  mixed  blood  to,  1O6/.. 
116  ff.,  124,  128 /.,  166:   revo- 
lution  to,    108 ff.;    remilu  of 
revolution  to.  110JT; 
clues  to,  110  ff.; 
into,   114;    loss  of  white  su- 
premacy to,  115;   anarchy  to. 
120  ff. ;  inability  of.  to  rule  self . 
128 /.;  Asiatic*  in.  130 /..  308: 
anti-Americanism  to.   136;  at- 
titude of,  toward  yellow  race. 
137  ff.;  pressure  of  yellow  race 
on.  139;   present  situation  in. 
140  ff.;  future  of.  14 Iff.;  Bol- 
shevik agitation  to.  220 ;  danger 
of     Asiatic     penetration     of. 
232  ff.,  249  JT..  303;   white  mi- 
gration into,  302 
North,  white  man's  land.  3.  ff. 
104,    225;     attitude   of   Japs 
toward.    52;     Japs    to.    131; 
Nordics  in,  253;    result  of  im- 
migration on.   264 ff..   261  ff.; 
need  for  prohibiting  immigra- 
tion  into.   266 ff.;    a  frontier 
against  Asia.  284 
South,  colonization  of,  3;   white 
man's  country,  5,  104;  colored 
man's   country,  6;    half-carte 
to,  117;   need  for  white  immi- 
gration into.  118;"  In  IlillbH" 
movement,  124;  Jap*  in,  131, 
139.    See  also  Latin  America 
American  Indian,  home  of.  104;  num- 
ber of.  104;   Spanish  Conquest  of. 
104  ff.;   racial  mixtures  of.  106 /.. 
116  ff.,  119  ff.,  128.  301;    relation* 
with    Spaniards.     107;     in    Chile. 
111/.;  in  Peru.  113;  in  Colombia. 
113;  to  Costa  Rica.  113;  to  Argen- 
tina.  114;    to   Uruguay.    114;    in 
northern    Brazil.    115;    anti-white 
sentiment  among,  124  ff.;   ancient 
civilizations  among,  126;  capability 
of,  126JT.;    influence  of  Spaniard* 
on,  127;  "Indlanista"  movement. 
129;  Japanese  relations  with.  137 
ff..  146 
Amerindian.    See  American  Indian 


313 


314 


INDEX 


Amoor,  199 

Anatolia,  211,  229 

Andaman  Islanders,  227 

Anglo-French  agreement,  70 

Anglo- Japanese  Alliance,  291  ff. 

Anglo-Oriental  College,  60 

Anglo-Saxons,  Japanese  agitation 
against,  50,  292;  race-growth  of, 
155^.;  "sacred  union"  of,  281 

Annamites,  17 

Arab-negroid,  94 

Arabia,  location  of,  57;  Senussi  in, 
67 ;  nationalist  movements  in,  77 

Arabistan,  definition  of,  57;  popula- 
tion of,  57 

Arabs,  88  ff.,  92  ff.,  102,  146 

Araucania,  111 

Argentina,  white  man  in,  105;  pop- 
ulation of,  114;  agricultural  devel- 
opment of,  114;  immigration  into, 
115;  Japanese  immigration  into, 
138 

Aryan  race,  23,  200 

Asia,  3,  4;  home-land  of  white  race, 
5 ;  of  yellow  race,  7 ;  of  brown  race, 
7;  black  race  in,  7;  antagonism 
toward  white  continents,  II  ff.,  15, 
22;  Japan  in,  43,  48,  52.  71;  Euro- 
pean conquests  in,  70;  renaissance 
in,  100;  Latin  America  invaded  by, 
130,  138,  142;  Europe  assailed  by, 
146  Jf.,  237;  white  man  in,  149^., 
237 jff.;  anti-white  sentiment  in, 
171,  237;  Russia  in,  203,  205  ff.; 
Bolshevik  agitators  in,  220;  centre 
of  colored  unrest,  229 ff.',  non- 
Asiatic  lands  penetrated  by,  232; 
independence  of,  232  ff. ;  economic 
activity  in,  241  ff.,  244,  248;  causes 
of  poverty  in,  243;  population  cf, 
249;  Hawaii  penetrated  by,  279; 
Mauritius  settled  by,  280;  Pacific 
coast  settled  by,  284;  need  in  U.  S. 
for  laborers  from,  293;  evils  of  mod- 
ern migration  in,  302 ;  white  world's 
need  for  understanding  with,  307  ff. 

Asia  Minor,  57 

Asturians,  111 

Australasia,  5,  6,  48,  87,  303 

Australia,  10;  Japanese  desire  for,  21, 
52;  Chinese  need  for  land  in,  46; 
80;  black  race  in,  87;  settlement 
of,  149;  225;iChinese  invasion  of, 
238,  272;  "White  Australia"  doc- 
trine in,  281  ff.;  number  of  white 
hi,  282;  immigration  menace  to, 
289;  Japanese  in,  292 

Austria,  22 

Aztec  civilization,  126,  297 


Bagdad,  61 

Balkans,  50 

Balkans,  war,  72 

Basques,  111 

Basra,  61 

Behring  Strait,  138 

Belgium,  82 

Bengal  lancers.  209 

Berbers,  white  blood  of,  93;  accep- 
tance of  French  rule,  94;  European 
intermarriage  with,  94 

Birmingham,  296 

Black  Death,  146 

Black  race,  5;  numbers  of,  7,  87; 
home  of,  7,  87  ff.;  Mohammedan- 
ism in,  65,  69;  brown  race's  rela- 
tions with,  85  ff.,  88,  92  ff.;  white 
race's  relations  with,  88  ff.,  91, 149; 
character  of,  90, 100  ff. ;  other  races 
compared  with,  91  jf.;  influence  of 
other  ra^es  on,  92;  spread  of  Islam 
in,  35  ff.,  235,  240;  spread  of  Chris- 
tianity in,  97  ff.;  anti- white  senti- 
ments of,  97;  "Ethiopian  Church" 
movement  and,  98  ff.;  in  Latin 
America,  110,  116  ff.,  14.1  ff.;  race- 
mixtures  with,  116  ff.,  126,  128,  142, 
301;  Germany's  relations  with, 
204;  France's  relations  with,  204; 
in  European  "War,  206,  209  ff.,  295; 
white  lands  entered  by,  269 

Boer  War,  2C8 

Bolivar,  108^. 

Bolivia,  mixed  blood  in,  119;  need  of 
immigration  in,  119;  Indian  rising 
in,  124./F.;  Japanese  immigration 
into.  138 

BolsheviM,  50 

Bolshevism,  191,  214,  218;  tenets  of, 
218 ff.;  menace  to  white  race, 
220  ff.,  233 

Bombay,  61 

Brahman.    See  Hindu 

Brazil,  103;  Bolshevik  propaganda 
in,  220;  Portugal's  neglect  of,  115; 
immigration  into,  115;  white  man 
in,  115;  Indians  in,  115;  result  of 
race-mixtures  in,  120,  259 

British  Columbia,  exclusion  policy  of, 
281 , 283 ;  colored  immigration  men- 
ace against,  289 

British  Dominion.  See  British  Em- 
pire 

British  Empire,  4;  Japan's  rela- 
tions with,  32;  India's  relations 
>ith,  32;  Egypt's  relations  with, 
78;  war  losses  of,  177;  immigra- 
tion laws  of,  292.  See  England  and 
Great  Britain 

British  Straits  Settlements,  46 


INDEX 


Brown  race.  5r  numbers  of,  7.  54; 
home  of,  7,  54;  12,  17,  22;  types  of. 
54  ff.\  unity  of,  55;  white  race's 
relations  with,  50  ff.,  149;  group- 
Ings  of,  57;  Islam's  relations  with. 
58  ff.;  unrest  under  wh,te  rule, 
83  ff.,  229,  234;  possibility  of 
brown-yellow  alliance,  85  ff.\  black 
race's  relations  with,  88,  91,  92  ff., 
100  ff.;  Europe  assailed  by,  146, 
148;  Germany's  relations  with, 
204;  France's  relations  with,  204; 
Italy's  relations  with,  204;  hi  Euro- 
pean War,  208  ff.,  295;  Africa  col- 
onized by,  232;  military  potency 
of,  237  ff. ;  industrial  conditions  of. 
241;  white  lands  penetrated  by. 
269;  Mauritius  settled  by,  280; 
South  Africa  penetrated  by,  277  ff. ; 
Central  Asia  taken  by,  303 

Bryce,  Lord,  124,  127 

Buddhism,  23,  73,  228 

Buenos  Aires,  114 

Cairo,  61,  62,  78 

Calcutta,  61 

California,  result  of  Chinese  labor  in, 
272;  exclusion  policy  of,  285;  Japa- 
nese in,  287  ff. 

Cambodians,  17 

Canada,  desire  of  yellow  race  for,  10; 
80;  fear  of  Asiatic  immigration  into, 
84;  white  man's  country,  104;  278; 
exclusion  policy  of,  281,  283;  pop- 
ulation of,  284;  Nordics  in,  163; 
danger  of  Hindu  immigration  into, 
283  ff.\  Caribbean,  121;  Caroline 
Islands,  36;  Carranza,  136;  Cape 
Horn,  105,  138;  Castro  of  Vene- 
zuela, 122;  Caucasian,  200 

Chengtu,  245 

Chile,  110;  Nordic  colonists  of,  111; 
race-mixture  in,  111;  stabilization 
of,  112;  characteristics  of,  112; 
progress  of,  113;  Japanese  immi- 
gration into,  138;  Bolshevik  propa- 
ganda hi,  220 

Chilembwe,  John,  99 

China,  white  control  of,  4;  indepen- 
dence of,  8;  yellow  world  centred 
in,  17, 18;  population  of .  18;  exclu- 
sion policy,  18;  Japanese  war  with, 
20  ff.,  23  ff.',  revolution  in,  23  ff., 
73;  partition  of,  23;  Boxer  War  in, 
24;  Japan's  relations  with,  26  ff., 
30  ff.,  34,  38^.,  42,  43,  50^.,  58, 
207,239,247,302;  "YoungChina" 
movement  hi,  26;  economic  effi- 
ciency of,  28  ff. ;  population  of,  44 ; 
colonizing  possibilities  of,  45/.; 


Mohammedans  In.  73 :  effect  of  war 
on.  77;  congestion  in.  84; 
America  penetrated  b> .  i  ;t  i  m 
"break-up"  of.  l.r>l.  199;  Kiuwla  « 
relations  with.  203;  Germany 'H  re- 
lations  with.  212;  Bolshevik  propa- 
ganda hi.  220;  white  goods  boy- 
cotted by.  230.  246^.;  military 
potency  of.  238  ff.:  industrial  Ufa 
of,  241.  243^..  250;  labor  condi- 
tions in.  244  ff.,  268.  273  ff..  276  ff. ; 
Hawaii  settled  by.  279;  British 
Columbia  penetrated  by.  283: 
United  States  settled  by.  286; 
Europe  penetrated  by,  289;  U.  8. 
need  for,  293  jr.;  England  sealed 
by,  296;  in  war  zone.  297 

Christianity,  in  Africa,  92.  95jff.;  in 
Lathi  America,  137 

Civitas  Dei,  170 

Cochin-China.  247 

Colombia,  settlement  of.  107,  113; 
revolution  hi.  113;  an  U- American 
sentiment  in,  136 

Colored-Bolshevist  alliance.  233 

Columbus.  Christopher.  103.  145,  147 

Confucius,  24;  followers  of.  73 

Congo,  101,  142 

Conquistador cs,  105  ff.,  126,  14O 

Constantinople.  57,  61,  72,  212 

Constantinople  Tanine,  13 

Contemporary  Review,  25 

Cortez,  106 

Costa  Rica.  113 

Creoles,  107  and  n.;  degeneracy  of. 
107  ff. ;  anti-Spain  revolt  of.  108  ff. ; 
"democracy"  of,  109;  status  of, 
116 

Crusades,  146.  209 

Cuba.  125,  139;  cross-breeding  in. 
259,  278 

Cuzco,  125 

"Dark  Continent,"  88 ff.,  97,  102 
de  Gama,  Vasco.  147 
de  la  Barra,  Sefior.  134 
Diaz.  Porflrio.  110 
Dillon,  Doctor  E.  J.,  10,  25,  217 
Durban,  278 

Dutch  Indies.  20.  34,  46;  colonization 
of,  47;  population  of,  47,  82 

Ecuador,  mixed  blood  in,  118;  need 

for  immigration  into,  119 
Egypt,  taken  by  England.  70.  76  JT: 
1914    revolt    in,    74:     nati* 
movement  in.  77  ff.;  effect  of  Ver- 
sailles Conference  on.  78:  Insiurpr- 
tion  in,  78 ff.;    unrest  In.  83.  84; 
Islam's  ascendancy  in,  93;  BoUha- 


316 


INDEX 


vik  propaganda  to,  220;  white 
products  boycotted  in.  24627. 

El  Mercurio  (Chfle),  138 

England,  India's  relations  with,  32, 
79  ff. ;  Japan's  relations  with,  35  27., 
50  Jf.,  71;  Islamite  appeal  to,  73; 
Egypt's  relations  with,  77  ff.;  Chile 
compared  with,  112;  1480  popula- 
tion of,  146,  15517.;  race-stocks  in, 
166;  beginning  of  war  in,  176,  180; 
cost  of  war  to,  192,  194,  199;  Rus- 
sia's threat  against.  203;  Japan  al- 
lied with,  20327.;  China's  indus- 
trial rivalry  with,  244;  colored 
labor  in.  295  jf.;  race-riots  in,  296  ff. 

English  Civil  Service,  80 

"Ethiopian  Church,"  96;  founding 
of,  98;  anti- white  teachings  of,  98; 
Zulu  rebellion  caused  by,  98 

Ethiopianism,  99 

Europe,  3,  5,  6,  11;  Asia's  hostility 
toward,  il;  46,  52;  Moslem  East 
attacked  by,  58;  relations  with 
Islam.  61 ;  height  attained  by,  62  ff., 
89;  Argentine  and  Uruguay  settled 
by,  114,  142;  Black  Death  In,  146; 
expansion  attempted  by,  146; 
Asia's  attacks  on,  14627.;  results 
of  discovery  of  America  in,  147; 
results  of  Asian  conflicts  on,  148, 
151  ff.;  Industrial  revolution  m, 
15727.,  161,  164;  Nordic  ranks  in, 
163;  results  of  Russo-Jap  War  in, 
171  ff.;  results  of  Versailles  Con- 
ference on,  216,  218,  307;  Bolshev- 
ism's menace  to,  220  ff. ;  effect  of 
colored  migration  on,  253;  268; 
danger  of  Oriental  immigration 
into,  289  ff. ;  colored  labor  imported 
into,  293,  29527.  See  also  Euro- 
pean War 

"European  Concert,"  170 

European  War,  4,  11,  1327.,  25,  33, 
36,  3927.;  Germany's  collapse  in, 
40;  end  of,  42;  prophecy  of,  62; 
Islam  at  beginning  of,  73;  Egypt 
at  beginning  of,  76;  East  affected 
by,  77;  India  in,  80;  U.  S.  in,  133, 
134,  136,  169,  175,  176;  cost  of, 
178  ff.;  in  civil  life,  17827.,  18127.; 
results  of,  18727.,  19027.,  206; 
"hate  literature"  of,  207;  use  of 
colored  troops  in,  20827.,  214,  220. 
290;  Asia's  attitude  affected  by, 
290  27. :  colored  labor  in,  293  27. 

"Exclusion  Policy,"  269 

Far  East.    See  China,  Japan 

Fatima,  67 

Filipinos  in  Hawaii,  279 


Fisher,  H.  A.  L.,  182 

Formosa,  20  27-,  30,  43,  47 

France,  birth-rate  of,  8,  46;  Japan's 
attitude  toward,  50 27-,  8327.,  103; 
cost  of  war  in,  177,  17927.;  con- 
scription in,  181,  194;  Nordics  in, 
202,  204,  250,  270;  colored  labor  in. 
29627.;  race-riots  in,  296 

"Gentlemen's  Agreement,"  287 

Germany,  Chinese  interests  of,  36; 
Japan's  relations  with,  36,  39, 
212  27. ;  Asiatic  expulsion  of,  36  27. ; 
Bolshevism's  aid  to,  40;  collapse 
of,  40,  50  27. ;  Islam's  relations  with, 
75;  South  American  immigrations 
of,  111,  115;  Mexico's  relations 
with,  136;  cost  of  war  in,  177,  180; 
conscription  in,  181 ;  Russia's  rela- 
tions with,  187;  Nordic  race  in,  201 ; 
Alpine  race  in,  202;  population  of, 
202;  in  central  Africa,  204;  Bel- 
gium invaded  by,  228;  Chinese  in- 
dustrial rivalry  with,  244,  270 

Grand  Affiance,  39 

Grant,  Madison,  115,  162,  169,  183, 
262 

Great  Britain,  3627.;  Japan's  rela- 
tions with,  38,  291 27.  See  also  Eng- 
land and  British  Empire 

Great  War.    See  European  War 

Greece,  72,  196,  199 

Guinea,  142 

Gurkhas,  209 

"Habl-ul-Matin,"  6627. 

Haiti,  4,  100,  142,  227  and  n. 

"Hajj,"  6627. 

Hall,  Prescott  F.,  253,  255 

Hangkow,  43 

Hanyang,  244 

Hawaii,  136;  white  rule  in,  279; 
Asiatic  labor  in,  27927.;  U.  S.  an- 
nexation of,  279;  Americans  in, 
279  27. 

Hedjaz  Kingdom,  66 

Himalayans,  55,  238 

Hindustan,  Islam's  relations  with,  73; 
England's  relations  with,  79;  Mau- 
ritius a  part  of.  280 

Hokkaido,  44,  47  27. 

Holland,  20,  46 

Huns,  17,  146 

Ichang,  244 

Incas,  12527- 

India,  Japanese  relations  with,  31 27.; 
English  relations  with,  32,  80;  pop- 
ulation of,  32,  57;  wealth  of,  33; 
Russian  menace  to,  38,  203;  47,  52; 


INDEX 


317 


southern,  55;  brown  world  centred 
in,  57;  revolt  in  Northwest,  74; 
unrest  In,  79 ;  government  of,  80  ff . ; 
congestion  in,  84  ff.,  250,  268; 
"Negritos"  in,  87.  147,  199;  Bol- 
shevik propaganda  in,  220,  225; 
foreign  goods  boycotted  by,  230; 
industrial  growth  of,  241;  handi- 
caps to,  246;  "Swadeshi"  movo- 
ment,  246,  248;  in  South  Africa, 
278;  hi  British  Columbia,  283;  in 
Europe,  289 

Indian  Archipelago,  282 

"Indianista"  movement,  124,  129, 
132;  Japanese  support  of ,  134.  137, 
140 

Indians  of  America.  See  American 
Indians 

Indo-China,  population  of.  18;  ex- 
clusion policy  of,  18,  23;  revolu- 
tions in,  33^.,  46,  87 

Indo-Japanese  Association,  32 

Iran,  population  of,  57;  influence  01, 
57 

Islam,  brown  race  united  by,  55;  in 
India,  55,  73,  79,  85;  57;  power  of, 
58  ff.;  revival  of,  58;  progress  of, 
60,  64  ff.;  communication  in,  61; 
numerical  strength  of,  61.  64;  Eu- 
ropean relations  with,  62  ff. ;  prose- 
lytizing power  of,  65;<l*he  Senussi 
in,  67  ff. ;  effect  of  Russo-Japanese 
War  on,  70;  Japanese  relations 
with,  70 ff.;  Tripoli  taken  from, 
71  ff.,  204;  effect  of  Balkan  War 
on,  72;  England's  relations  with, 
73;  in  China,  73;  in  the  European 
War,  74;  Versailles  Conference  and, 
75 ff.;  black  race's  relations  with, 
86,  92,  94;  South  African  progress 
of.  94  ff.,  102 

Italy,  50;  Tripoli  seized  by,  71  ff., 
205;  South  American  immigration 
from,  114:  ff.;  conditions  in,  176 

Japan,  independence  of,  4,  8;  effect 
of  white  civilization  on,  9,  12; 
Russian  war  with,  12,  20^.,  17; 
population  of,  18,  44;  exclusion 
policy  of,  18;  Western  civilization 
in,  20;  Chinese  war  with,  20 ff.; 
imperialism  hi,  21 ;  European  War 
and,  25,  39,  41;  Chinese  subjection 
to,  23.  26  ff.,  30,  37,  247;  white 
race  expelled  from  Asia  by,  31; 
Asia  influenced  by,  31,  33,  43;  Eng- 
land's relations  with,  35,  203  ff.. 
291  ff.;  Germany's  relations  with, 
36,  212  ff.;  Russian  understanding 
with,  38;  hi  Siberia,  40;  Versailles 


and,    42:     colonizing 
possibili  lion  of.  45 ;  olimat  ic  requinv 
ments  of,  47  ff. ;  militarism  of.  49  ff. ; 
Islam's  relation*  with.  71  ff.;  Latin 
America's  relation*   with.    130  ff.. 
137;  American  relations  wit  t 
136,     286  JT;      Mexican     relations 
with,  132  ff.;   Indiana  affected  by. 
140;   power  of.  172.  238:    RtMrtan 
prisoners    hi.    2O6/.;      Bolshevik 
propaganda  hi.  220;  Industrial  con- 
ditions in.  241,  246  ff.;  excess  pop- 
ulation in.  268.  270:  Hawaii  srttlnrl 
by.  279  ff.;    British  Columbia  set- 
tled by.  283;  Chinese  excluded  by. 
302;   Koreans  excluded  by.  3O2 
Japan  Magazine.  35,  291.  293 
Japanese  Colonial  Journal.  37 
Java.  84;    Bolshevik  propaganda  la. 

220 

Jerusalem.  72 
Jews  hi  America,  165 

Kamchatka,  43 

Kechua  republic,  possibility  of,  12ft 

Kerbela.  61 

Kiang  Su,  province  of,  27 

Kiaochow  Bay,  Germany's  lease  of, 
36;  Germany  driven  from,  36.  St. 
213 

Kitchener,  Lord,  78 

Kobe,  206 

Korea,  population  of.  17;    exclusion 
policy  hi,  18;   Japanese 
of,   30.   43;    colonization   in. 
Hawaii  settled  by.  279;   Ji 
exclusion  policy  against.  3O2 

Lake  Baikal.  4O 
Lake  Chad,  68 
League  of  Nations.  218 
Lenine,  219  ff. 
Levantines  hi  U.  8..  165: 

253 

Liberia.  4.  89.  100 
Lima,  125 
Ldmehouse.  296 
London,  72,  296 
London  Nation.  207 
London  Saturday  Retitw.  186 
Los  Angeles  Times.  287 
Lybia,  Nationalist  movement  in.  77 


Madero.  Francisco,  135 
Malaysia.  250 

Manchuria,  Japanese  threat 
40,  43;  colonization  in,  45 
Manchus.  17.  24 
Marianne  Islands.  36 
Marshall  Islands,  36 


318 


INDEX 


Matabele,  96 

Mauritius,  French  in,  280;  importa- 
tion of  blacks  into,  280;  importa- 
tion of  Asiatics  into,  280;  present 
conditions  in,  280 

Maya  civilization,  126 

Mecca,  66 

Mediterranean  race,  W2ff.,  165;  in 
U.  S.,  165;  in  England,  166  ff.;  in 
war,  183,  261 

Mediterranean  Sea,  57,  77,  82,  88,  93, 
101 

Melbourne  Argus,  21 

Mesopotamia,  57,  84,  211 

Mexican  War,  133 

Mexico,  conquest  of,  104  ff.,  107; 
dictatorship  in,  110;  unrest  in,  116; 
Indian  rising  in,  124;  Aztec  civili- 
zation in,  126;  Japanese  relations 
with,  132,  134  ff.;  anti- American 
feeling  in,  132  ff.,  136;  "Plan  of 
San  Diego"  plotted  in,  133;  Bol- 
shevik propaganda  in,  220;  cross- 
breeding in,  259 

Mexico  City,  135 

"Middle  Kingdom,"  17 

Miranda,  108 

Mohammedan  Revival,  56,  58  ff. 

Mohammedanism.     See  Islam    - 

Mohammerah,  61 

Mongolia,  Russia  in,  38;  colonization 
of,  45 

Mongolians,  17,  23,  130,  137,  139, 
146,  285 

Monroe  Doctrine,  129,  132,  138 

"Monroe  Doctrine  for  Par  East,"  23, 
30 

Montevideo,  114 

Moors,  66,  147 

Morocco,  Senussi  order  in,  68;  French 
possession  of,  76;  riots  in,  77,  82  ff., 
93 

Moslem.    See  Islam 

Napoleonic  Wars,  58 

Natal,  revolt  in,  98;  Asian  immigra- 
tion into,  272  ff.,  278;  South  Afri- 
can exclusion  act  in,  280  ff. 

Near  and  Middle  East,  brown  man's 
land,  54  ff.;  European  domination 
of,  75  ff. 

"Negritos,"  87 

Negro.     See  Black  Race 

Netherlands,  a  Nordic  country.  202 

New  England,  256,  258,  294 

New  Guinea,  99 

New  Zealand,  278;  exclusion  policy 
of,  281 

Nicaragua,  122 

Niger,  101 


Nigeria,  210 

Nile,  88,  101 

Nordic  race,  111  ff.,  162;  decreasing 
birth-rate  of,  163;  character  of, 
163;  effect  of  industrial  revolution 
on,  164;  in  U.  S.,  165,  258,  261, 
266;  hi  England,  166  ff.;  cost  of 
war  to,  183;  worth  of,  199^.;  in 
Germany,  201  ff. ;  constructive 
power  of,  229 

North  Borneo,  46 

Nyassaland,  Mohammedanism  in. 
95  ff.;  rebellion  in,  99 

Okuma,  Count,  31  ff.,  50,  131,  138 
Ottoman  Empire,   partition  of,  75; 

cost  of  war  to,  177  ff. 
Ottoman  Turk,  55,  57,  146 

Pacific  Ocean  Society,  32 

Pan- African  Congress,  99  ff 

Pan-America,  130,  138 

Pan-Asia  Alliance,  234 

Pan- Asia  Holy  War,  11 

Pan-Asian  Railroad,  212 

Pan-Asiatic  Association,  31 

"Pan-Colored"  alliance,  70,  229, 
233  ff. 

Pan-Germanism,  169,  201  ff. 

Pan-Islam  Holy  War,  11,  70 

Pan-Islamism,  driving  power  of,  66  ff. ; 
progress  to  ward,  69;  result  of  Peace 
Conference  on,  75, 79, 94;  the  negro 
the  tool  of,  97,  100,  102,  237;  in  the 
European  War,  205  ff.,  234  ff.; 
Asia  affected  by,  237;  military  po- 
tency of,  238,  240 

Pan-Mongolism,  28 

Pan-Nordic  union,  200 

Pan-Slavism,  169,  201,  203 

Paraguay,  110 

Paris,  99,  122,  216 

Pax  Americana,  4 

Pax  Romana,  170 

Peace  Conference.  See  Versailles 
Conference 

Pechili  Strait,  43 

Peking,  43,  212 

Pelew  Islands,  36 

Peloponnesian  War,  173  ff.,  196 

Persia,  4;  Russian  menace  to,  38;  in- 
dependence of,  56;  Japan's  rela- 
tions with,  70  ff.;  in  war,  74;  Eng- 
land the  protector  of,  76,  84;  Ger- 
many's relations  with,  212 

Peru,  conquest  of,  104  ff.,  107;  settle- 
ment of,  113;  revolution  in,  113; 
politics  of,  125;  Incas  in,  126; 
Chinese  in,  131 ;  Japanese  in,  1S8 

Peshawar,  6.1 


INDEX 


319 


Philippines,  Independence  movement 

in,  34,  43,  46,  83,  87,  137,  229 
Pizarro,  106 

"Plan  of  San  Diego."  133 
Poland,  cost  of  war  in,  178 
Port  Arthur,  153 
Port  Louis,  280 
Port  Said,  61 
Portugal,  18,  115 

Rangoon,  23 

Red  race,  5;  number  of,  7,  104;  home 
of,  7,  104  ff.\  cross-breeding  with, 
106 ff.,  116^.,  119,  128;  anti-Spain 
revolution  of,  108  ff. ;  in  Chile,  111; 
in  Peru,  113;  in  Colombia,  113; 
in  Argentine,  114;  in  Uruguay,  114; 
in  northern  Brazil,  115;  anti-white 
sentiment  of,  124  ff. ;  character  of, 
126  .^.;  yellow  race's  relations  with, 
131  ff.,  138, 140;  effect  of  Spaniards 
on,  141;  future  of,  141  ff. 

Rhodes,  Cecil,  200 

Rio  Grande,  5,  7,  103,  105 

Roman  Empire,  116;  fall  of,  146 

Rome,  50,  146,  199,  290 

Ross,  Professor  E.  A.,  112,  118,  125, 
131,  139,  140,  2^4  ff.,  260,  264,  267, 
269,  273 

Russia,  Japanese  war  with,  12,  20^"., 
31,  205;  Japan's  relations  with, 
35  ff.,  38,  151;  revolution  in,  39, 
214;  Bolshevism  in,  40,  50  ff.,  219; 
Persia's  relations  with,  74;  white 
race  hi,  145;  and  European  War, 
176;  cost  of  war  in,  177  ff.;  Ger- 
many's relations  with,  187,  189, 
194;  Nordics  in,  202;  as  part  of 
Asia,  203  ff. ,  270 

Russo-Japanese  War,  12;  Japan's 
strength  revealed  by,  21  ff.,  171; 
23;  effect  on  Islam,  70;  African 
results  of,  97,  149,  153;  effect  on 
white  race,  203,  205,  237 

Saar,  215 

Saghalien,  Island  of,  247 

Sahara  Desert,  7,  57,  67;  Senussi 
control  of,  68,  87  ff.,  93 

Sailors'  and  Firemen's  Union,  296 

San  Martin,  108 

Santiago  College,  112 

Scandinavia,  145,  202 

Senegalese,  209  ff. 

Senussiyah,  history  of,  67;  organiza- 
tion of,  67;  stronghold  of,  67  ff.; 
European  relations  with,  68;  pro- 
gramme of,  69,  94 

Serbia,  cost  of  war  in,  178 

Seyyid,  Mohammed  ben  Senussi,  67  ff. 


Shanghai.  244 

Shansi,  245 

Shantung.  Germany  in.  36;  Japan  In. 
43,  215,  297 

Siam,  4. 17. 23:  Japan's  relation  with. 
31.  45.  247 

Slanfu.  245 

Siberia.  6.  15.  18.  34;  danger  of  Bol- 
shevism to.  40;  Japanese  army  in. 
40;  colonized  by  Chinese.  48;  col- 
onized by  Japanese.  48;  settlement 
of,  149;  Russia  in.  151 

Siddyk.  Yahya.  62 

Singapore,  29 

Somaliland.  68 

South  African  Union,  96;  white  pop- 
ulation of.  98 

Spain,  the  Moors  in.  65,  147;  in  Latin 
America.  106.  108.  111.  114.  iis; 
Argentina  settled  by,  1 14 ;  Uruguay 
settled  by.  114 

Spanish  Conquest,  105 

Steppes.  238 

Sudan.  79,  93 

Sudanese,  in  war,  210 

Suez.  77.  103 

"Survival  of  Fittest."  23,  150,  273 

Syria,  57 

Szechuan,  245 

Tartars,  17,  57 

Teheran,  61.  71 

Teutonic  Powers,  78 

Texas,  133 

Thibet,  29;  as  Chinese  colony.  45 

Thirty  Years'  War.  202 

Tokio.  22.  39  ff.,  134 

Tokio  Economist,  131 

Tokio  Hoc/if,  50 

Tokio  Maini'-hi  Deupo,  291 

Tokio  Universe,  37 

Toldo  Yamato,  38 

Tokio  Yorodzu,  292  ff. 

Trades  Union  Congress,  296 

Transcaucasia.  57 

Trinidad.  278 

Tripoli,  seized  by  Italy.  71  ff.:  to  te- 
volt,  74.  77,  204 

Tunis.  82.  94 

"Turanians,"  57 

Turkestan.  38:  Chinese  section  of .  48; 
colonization  possibilities  in.  45 

Turkestan,  composition  of.  57;  pop- 
ulation of,  ~i~ 

Turkey,  4;  independence  of,  56: 
Tripoli  taken  from,  71;  Balkan 
War  looses  to.  72;  in  European 
War,  74.  78.  209;  war  losses  of.  178; 
German  alliance  with.  211  ff. 

Turkomans.  57 


320 


INDEX 


Uganda;  Christianity  In,  96 

United  States,  4,  10,  37;  in  war,  39. 
46;  Japanese  relations  with,  48, 
99.  103,  132;  settlement  of,  104, 
121,  125,  129,  132;  Mexican  rela- 
tions with,  132  ff.;  Mexican  plot 
against,  133;  Mexican-Japanese 
alliance  against,  132.  135;  Latin 
American  hostility  toward,  135  ff.; 
Latin  American  ties  with,  137, 139; 
Nordic  race  in,  165;  Bolshevik 
propaganda  in,  220;  effect  of  im- 
migration in,  256;  Hawaiian  rela- 
tions with,  279  Jf..  282;  immigra- 
tion menace  to,  286,  289;  Chinese 
in,  286,  293  ff. ;  Japanese  in,  286  ff. ; 
Japanese  excluded  from,  292  ff.; 
immigration  laws  in,  308 

Uruguay,  105;  population  of,  114; 
agricultural  development  of,  114; 
European  immigration  into,  114  ff. 

Valparaiso,   112;    English  character 

of,  112 
Venetuela,    122;     Indians    in,    128; 

anti-American  sentiment  in,  136 
Versailles  Peace  Conference,  42,  SO; 

Islam  and,  75ff..  187;   failure  of. 

215  ff.,  233,  235,  307 

Wahabees,  58,  67 

Wars  of  Roses,  155 

West  African  Guinea,  Christian  mis- 
sions in.  96 

West  Indian  Islands.  103,  253 

White  race.  3,  4,  5,  8 if.;  21,  34, 151; 
numbers  of,  6,  155 ;  8  ff .,  21 ;  expul- 
sion from  Far  East,  28,  31,  44;  Asia 
controlled  by,  46,  47  ff.,  53;  brown 
race's  relation  with,  55  ff.,  146. 148; 
62  ff..  70;  India's  relation  with.  82 
ff.,  124  ff.;  brown-yellow  alliance 
against,  85;  black  race  ruled  by, 
89,  91  ff..  102^7.;  in  Northeast 
Africa,  93  Jf.;  African  hostility 
toward,  97 ff.;  hi  Africa,  98,  249; 
to  North  America,  104  ff.;  in  Latin 
America,  104  if.,  110  ff.,  118  ff., 
133, 141.?.,  249.  302;  Indian  race- 


mixture  with,  106  if.,  116  ff.;  Mex- 
ican hostility  toward,  132  ff.;  yel- 
low race's  relations  with,  137  ff., 
141,  146,  148,  151  ff.;  expansion 
of,  145;  original  location  of,  145; 
original  area  of,  145 ff.;  original 
number  of,  146;  effect  of  fifteenth- 
century  discoveries  on,  147;  prog- 
ress of,  148  ff.,  153;  effect  of  Russo- 
Japanese  War  on,  154,  171  ff.,  203; 
effect  of  industrial  revolution  on, 
156  ff.;  birth-rate  of,  162;  division 
of,  162;  solidarity  of,  169  Jf.,  199  ff.. 
204  ff.,  306  ff.;  in  European  War, 
175  ff.,  196, 199;  Bolshevik  menace 
to,  219  ff. ;  danger  to,  228  ff.,  289  ff., 
297  ff.,  301,303;  effect  of  immigra- 
tion on,  251jf.,  278 ff.;  exclusion 
policy  of,  269/7.,  281  ff.;  rise  of, 
299  ff. 

Yangtse  River,  43,  244 

Yellow  Peril,  85,  139,  172,  213,  237 

Yellow  race,  5;  numbers  of,  7;  home 
of,  7, 10,  12,  17  ff. ;  Russo-Japanese 
War  triumph  of,  21,  22;  expansion 
of,  28,  46  Jf.,  55;  white  aggression 
resisted  by,  56;  brown  race's  rela- 
tions with,  85,  91,  100;  Americas 
penetrated  by,  130  ff.,  232;  Latin 
American  attitude  toward,  137. 
139.  141  ff.;  white  race's  relations 
with,  146,  148,  151  ff..  234  ff.,  269, 
272 ff.;  in  France,  2O4;  in  war, 
207  ff.,  296;  Germany's  relations 
with,  213;  military  potency  of. 
238 ff.;  industrial  conditions  in. 
241,  272 ff.;  to  Hawaii,  279;  in 
Australia,  281;  in  British  Colum- 
bia, 283;  in  Central  Asia,  303 

Yemenite  Arabs.  55 

Yucatan,  ancient  civilization  in,  136 

Zambezi,  95  ff. 
Zanzibar  Arabs,  95 
Zawias.    See  Sennssi 
Zelaya  of  Nicaragua.  122 
Zulus,  96.  190;  revolt  of.  t8  > 


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